A decades-old satire by Jaspal Bhatti has found renewed interest among netizens as IndiGo scrambles to contain a wave of cancellations and delays. A clip from Bhatti’s 1990s show Full Tension mirrors the chaos the nation witnessed unfolding in airports across the country.

Titled ‘SOS Airlines’, the episode shows Bhatti as a flustered airline manager trying — and failing — to manage overbooked flights, missing pilots, bungled paperwork, and endless announcements about “technical issues”.

Passengers dash between counters, plead for seats, argue with staff, and even try slipping in bribes. What once felt like exaggerated farce now plays uncomfortably close to reality.

The renewed attention for Bhatti’s skit comes amid IndiGo’s ongoing operational crunch. New rostering rules requiring longer rest hours for pilots were announced months in advance, but the airline reportedly struggled to adjust its scheduling systems in time.

That misstep triggered a widespread pilot shortage, throwing one of India’s busiest networks off balance.

“Today’s Indigo situation was visualised a long time ago by Jaspal Bhatti. Simply brilliant and ahead of his times,” one user wrote on X, sharing the clip. “Jaspal Bhatti got this so right decades back. Kudos Bhatti sahab. You were a true visionary,” wrote another.

“He was so far ahead of his time. Simply brilliant! Jaspal Bhatti had predicted @IndiGo6E fiasco three decades ago and sent an SOS then,” quipped another user on X.

By 5 December, more than 1,000 IndiGo flights had been cancelled. Two days later, the number had surged past 2,100 nationwide, stranding passengers at major airports and driving up ticket prices.

Reports of confusion at counters and long rebooking queues only added to the frustration.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, chaired by JD(U) leader Sanjay Jha, is expected to seek explanations from airline leaders as well as officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation.