IndiGo crisis: ‘Need to go home to see my son for 1st time’, says passenger at Delhi airport

Sanjay Rabari struggled to reach home for his son's birthday due to flight cancellations, while others face similar travel chaos at Delhi airport.

“I am exhausted but I am smiling and trying to be calm, because I need to find a way to reach home,” said Sanjay Rabari as he spent countless hours on Friday outside Terminal 3 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport trying to find a way home before his son’s birthday on December 6.

Passengers enquire about their IndiGo flight at a boarding gate at Kempegowda International Airport amid flight disruptions, in Bengaluru, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (PTI)

“I have only seen my son in photos and videos. Tomorrow, he will turn two and I came to India especially for his birthday,” said Rabari, who has spent the last two-and-a-half years away from his home while working as a security officer in Canada.

Follow live updates related to IndiGo cancellations here.

Rabari took his first flight from Detroit, Michigan to Heathrow, London, following which he arrived in Delhi on Friday morning with a final leg of the journey to Ahmedabad remaining. However, his hopes were dashed when his IndiGo flight was cancelled, with no alternatives available.

“I have come here for 14 days only and have already spent three days in airports,” the troubled father said. “I have tried getting a train ticket but that’s also not available and I don’t want to travel by road for 16 hours as I’ll be exhausted.”

Meanwhile, 61-year-old Ethopian national Okafor Nnamdi spent the entire day at the IGI airport, trying to find travel arrangements to Mumbai. “I bring sick people from countries like Ethiopia and Nigeria to India for medical treatment,” he said. “I have to take a Nigerian patient who was undergoing cancer treatment back to Nigeria from Mumbai but I am stuck here.”

Amid the chaos, which is affecting several passengers across the country, Nnamdi hopes he will get a flight for Sunday morning.