Meghalaya: IndiGo cancellations strand Shillong woman with husband’s coffin at Guwahati airport

Guwahati: Manjuri traveled from Shillong to Guwahati carrying her husband’s embalmed body in a coffin, planning to take an IndiGo flight to Kolkata for the final rites.

She reached the airport on time, but every IndiGo flight was cancelled one after another without warning.

“There was no information,” she said, her voice breaking. “The boards still showed ‘scheduled,’ but staff kept saying the planes weren’t coming. I can’t take the coffin back to Shillong, and the 48-hour embalming period is almost over. Who will take responsibility for my husband’s body now?”

She had left Shillong believing her flight would operate. Had the airline informed her even six hours earlier, she would not have made the journey.

Manjuri’s ordeal is one of many as IndiGo, India’s largest airline, faces massive flight cancellations due to stricter DGCA crew-duty rules, scheduling issues, and staff shortages.

Over the past week, more than 2,000 domestic and international flights have been cancelled daily across the country, often with little or no warning.

At Guwahati airport, numerous IndiGo flights were grounded, leaving passengers frustrated and helpless.

Display boards continued to show flights as “on time,” while ground staff verbally informed travellers of the cancellations.

Security personnel were deployed as crowds grew and tensions rose.

The sudden cancellations have been particularly distressing for those transporting deceased relatives.

Manjuri spent hours stranded with the coffin beside her, seeking answers that never came.

“If this can happen to a dead body,” she said, “imagine what others are going through.”

Regulators have issued notices to IndiGo’s management and capped fares on affected routes, but for Manjuri and many others, the disruption has already caused significant hardship.