Air travel in Tripura faced a serious disruption on Friday when IndiGo cancelled nine flights at Agartala’s Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport (MBB Airport). The cancellations covered both arrivals and departures, which meant a total of 18 scheduled flight operations did not take place. The sudden development caused long queues, long waiting hours and confusion among passengers who had reached the airport early morning.
According to information shared at the airport, IndiGo cited crew rostering problems as the main reason behind the move. The issue is reportedly linked to new Flight Duty Time Limitations brought in by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The airline did not issue public alerts well in advance, which added to the frustration of travellers who said they had no prior idea about the cancellations.
Many passengers said they came to know about the situation only after reaching the terminal. A passenger who was waiting in the departure hall said that he did not receive any message or phone call from the airline. Several others expressed similar complaints. Airport officials were seen trying to calm anxious passengers but the sudden increase in crowds made the arrangements slow and difficult. 
Along with the cancelled flights, many other flights were delayed throughout the day. Four flights, including two which were supposed to go to Kolkata, were delayed for more than seven hours. Two more flights were delayed for about one hour. However, the airport still managed to handle 15 flights including arrivals and departures, even though the overall schedule was heavily affected.
Passengers from Tripura and neighbouring states depend on Agartala airport for medical travel, work-related trips and other urgent reasons. Some travellers coming from Bangladesh also faced inconvenience as they were planning to travel further and had connecting schedules. The sudden change forced many people to rebook tickets or look for other routes, which was not easy because flight options from Agartala are limited.
