Shimla/Dehradun/Leh/Srinagar: A week-long meltdown at IndiGo — India’s biggest airline — has smashed the winter high-end tourism season across Himachal, Uttarakhand, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir.
Hotel occupancy in destinations like Shimla, Manali, Dehradun, Mussoorie, Leh and Srinagar has crashed to 10–20%, leaving hoteliers fuming and travellers recounting nightmares of missed flights, lost baggage and ruined holidays.
‘Winter season wiped out in one stroke’
“This is the peak time. We wait the whole year for December,” said a Shimla hotelier. “But because IndiGo collapsed, tourists just cancelled everything. Occupancy is down to barely 15%. Who will compensate us for these losses?”
Hoteliers from Mussoorie to Srinagar echoed similar frustration.
“We were expecting full houses,” said Nasir Ali, a Srinagar property owner. “Instead, we’re dealing with last-minute cancellations, refunds and empty rooms. One airline brought the entire North’s tourism economy to its knees.”
"We to travel to our pilgrimage across India but we have to cancel our plans, said Dolma from Leh.
Travellers stranded, angry, exhausted
Passengers described chaotic scenes at airports, endless queues, and zero clarity from the airline.
“I missed my cousin’s wedding in Nainital,” said Ankita Sharma, a Dehradun resident. “Tickets cancelled. Baggage lost for two days. No explanation. Only apologies on social media.”
A group from Bengaluru heading to Leh for a trekking trip said they had to abandon the plan.
“We were stranded at the airport for 20 hours. Not a single IndiGo officer gave a clear answer. Winter holidays gone,” said Rohan Pillai, one of the travellers.
IndiGo’s ‘worst crisis in 19 years’
Facing national outrage, IndiGo’s top brass finally issued long, emotional apologies — first from Chairman V V Elavarasi and then from CEO Pieter Elbers — calling this the airline’s worst crisis in nearly two decades.
But those hit by the sudden cancellations did not borrow their excuses and apologies. "It was all due to shortage of crews and crew fatigue as IndiGo cares no two hoots to deploy extra staff in a greed to multiply their their coffers" , claimed the passengers.
In his message, the Chairman however said:
“We are truly, truly sorry. The fair criticism is that the airline let you down. The board has now involved external technical experts to determine the root causes so this never happens again.”
He rejected allegations that the airline engineered the crisis or violated safety rules:
“These claims are incorrect. IndiGo followed all pilot-fatigue norms. The disruptions did not happen because of deliberate action.”
He blamed a “combination of internal and external events” — technical glitches, winter schedule changes, bad weather, congestion and new crew-rostering rules.
“This combination pushed our systems beyond their limits.”
The CEO added:
“We’ve let you down. Thousands of you could not travel and we are profusely apologetic… Lakhs of refunds have already been processed. Flights and network are now fully stabilised.”
‘But apology can’t repair financial damage’
Hoteliers aren’t convinced.
“Sorry is fine, but what about our losses?” asked a Leh guest-house owner. “A crisis of this scale destroys confidence in winter travel.”
Tour operators are now demanding a government-led compensation mechanism for aviation-triggered tourism collapses.
With IndiGo controlling a majority of India’s domestic aviation, the cascading effect of its failure was inevitable.
Over 1,000 flights were cancelled on December 5 alone, triggering a chain reaction that crushed mountain tourism just as the winter rush began.
“People don’t realise — one week of cancellations affects three months of business,” a Shimla hotel manager said. “IndiGo may be stable now, but our season is already gone.”
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