Fact Check: IndiGo crisis – Flyers stranded at Hyderabad Airport? No, video shows Bengaluru Airport
A video claiming to show visuals from Hyderabad Airport amid IndiGo flight cancellations is going viral on social media.
By - M Ramesh Naik
Claim:The viral video shows a heavy rush at Hyderabad airport due to IndiGo flight cancellations.
Fact:The claim is misleading. The video is not from Hyderabad. The visuals are from Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru.
Hyderabad: On Wednesday, IndiGo cancelled nearly 220 flights across major airports, including Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, even as the airline’s CEO claimed that operations were stabilising from the crisis that started on December 2-3.
Bengaluru witnessed the highest disruptions, and over 2.6 lakh passengers were affected nationwide. The Central government has since ordered a 10 per cent reduction in IndiGo’s flight schedule to restore normalcy.
Amid the ongoing chaos, a video began circulating on social media claiming to show the rush at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA).
In the clip, large crowds are seen waiting with luggage near the baggage and check-in counters, with people sharing it as evidence of Hyderabad Airport being overwhelmed by IndiGo cancellations.
A Facebook user shared the clip with the caption: “This is the situation at Hyderabad Airport. Atrocious conditions due to IndiGo cancellations. 69 flights already cancelled. Passengers and luggage piling up like a railway station.” (Translated from Telugu) (Archive)
Similar posts can be found here.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading. The viral video is from Bengaluru Airport.
A reverse image search of several keyframes from the video, including visuals of the luggage and check-in counters, led us to images used by media outlets such as The Hindu (December 5 edition) and Business Standard (December 6) reporting the IndiGo crisis.
The reports said the images showed the situation at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru in the light of the IndiGo crisis.
A side-by-side comparison of the viral clip with images published by Business Standard showed that the background elements inside the airport, passenger flow area and booking counters are the same in both media.
Here’s a comparison of the features mentioned to prove they are similar.
To further verify the location, NewsMeter examined the 360-degree indoor view of Kempegowda International Airport available on Google Maps.
The pillars, signboards, escalator placement and the layout of the terminal visible in the viral video matched perfectly with the Terminal 1 (T1) imagery on Google Maps.
The architecture and interiors did not match those of Hyderabad’s RGIA.
While RGI Airport in Hyderabad did experience crowding during the IndiGo disruptions, the viral video in question is not from Hyderabad.
While we couldn’t find any official sources that could confirm that the scene in the video is due to the ongoing IndiGo crisis, we did not find any social media posts that suggested otherwise.
However, it is clear that the viral video claiming to show crowds at Hyderabad Airport during the IndiGo cancellations actually shows Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru.
Therefore, NewsMeter concludes that the claim is misleading.
