A photo showing airline passengers sitting on an airport tarmac and eating is going viral on social media amid ongoing outrage over the IndiGo crisis, which began on 2 December and has led to thousands of flight cancellations and widespread disruption across Indian airports.
What's the claim?: The post is being circulated with political commentary, claiming that airports have now "become like railway stations."
Why is it being shared now?: The claim is circulating because of the ongoing IndiGo operational crisis, which began on 2 December.
The disruption has led to over 3,000–4,000 flight cancellations, massive crowds at airports, and widespread confusion caused by crew-rostering issues and DGCA-mandated restrictions.
Amid this frustration, older visuals of airport chaos are resurfacing online, with users attaching them to the current crisis to make political or sarcastic commentary.
What's the truth?: The claim is misleading.
The image has no connection to the ongoing IndiGo crisis.
It is from an isolated incident in January 2024, when passengers on a Mumbai–Goa IndiGo flight were made to sit on the tarmac after a delay.
The airline was later penalised for allowing passengers onto the runway, which was deemed a breach of security protocols.
What we found: We ran the image on Google reverse image search.
It led us to an Assam Tribune post on X, formerly Twitter, published on 19 January 2024, showing similar visuals of passengers sitting on the tarmac and eating.
News reports, including an NDTV report from 19 January 2024, confirm that passengers on an IndiGo Mumbai–Goa flight were made to disembark and sit on the tarmac after a long delay, where food was served to them on the runway itself.
Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia later described the incident as a security breach, and IndiGo was subsequently fined for the violation.
The extensive coverage of the ongoing 2025 IndiGo disruption does not contain any news report linking any tarmac-dining or similar runway incident to the 2025 crisis.
Conclusion: The photo of passengers sitting on a tarmac and eating is not from the recent IndiGo crisis. It is serving misleading and inaccurate impression of current events.
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