The long, winding road to the runway

Even as India’s aviation sector soars, it is a test of patience for travellers reaching the airport due to unreliable buses, disjointed metro links, and costly cabs.

- Manoj Sharma

On a muggy July morning in Bengaluru, Anamika Mehra, a 32-year-old marketing executive, sat helplessly in a cab crawling through traffic on her way to Kempegowda International Airport. The dashboard clock showed 8.15am—only 45 minutes before her Delhi flight's gates closed.

What should have been a one-hour journey from Indiranagar had already taken over two hours. By the time Mehra reached the terminal, her flight had departed. “I had to pay a fortune for anew ticket,” she says. “With no Metro link to the airport and buses slowed by traffic, I spent ₹1,500 on a cab and still missed my flight.”

Mehra’s ordeal is far from rare. For most Indian travellers, reaching the airport isa test of patience due to unreliable buses, disjointed metro links, and costly cabs. To avoid missing flights, many leave hours in advance, choking access roads and overcrowding terminals.

Ironically, this disconnect between cities and their airports continues even as India’s aviation sector soars. The number of airports has nearly doubled—from 74 in 2014 to 162 in 2025—with 50 more slated to open by 2030. New hubs like Jewar (Noida) and Navi Mumbai are opening this year, while domestic passenger traffic reached 174 million in 2024 and is projected to surpass 400 million by 2030.

“This is the paradox. We're building world-class airports but forcing people to fight their way to reach them. It’s more than an inconvenience—it clogs terminals with early arrivals, worsens road congestion and causes missed flights,” says Suresh Babu, a Mumbai-based architect and urbanist.

“I’ve missed flights myself due to traffic, paying the price both financially and professionally. A study on daily missed flights because of this chaos would be revealing,”

Such a long journey