India’s Airports Claim to Be World-Class. The Wheelchair Crisis Says Otherwise.”

The viral video should have been a moment of empathy. Instead, it became a national controversy. A long queue of elderly indian travellers—many of them parents flying alone, many unsure of navigating unfamiliar airports—were seen waiting in wheelchairs at a major international terminal. Within hours, the debate twisted from accessibility to blame, from systemic failure to “misuse,” and from compassion to class judgment.

Air india, unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight, revealed that it handles over one lakh wheelchair requests every month, with industry whispers suggesting 30% to even 80% usage on certain India–US sectors. Then came the detonator:
Biocon founder kiran Mazumdar-Shaw’s statement that airlines should charge ₹5,000 per airport for wheelchair services to “filter out” convenience users.

A crisis of infrastructure was suddenly framed as a crisis of morality.

What followed is worth investigating—not because indians use wheelchairs, but because the debate exposes something deeper: the contradictions of India’s aviation, the invisibility of elderly travellers, and the uncomfortable truth that our “world-class airports” may not be designed for the people who actually use them.

The Wheelchair Surge: What Actually Happened

The video showed long rows of wheelchair-bound passengers, many of them elderly, many travelling alone. airport staff were overwhelmed. airlines scrambled for manpower. social media erupted with accusations of “fake disability,” “queue hopping,” and “privileged misuse.”

But the reality is more complex.

Indian parents flying abroad—particularly to or from the US—often:

• Do not speak english confidently

• Fear getting lost in unfamiliar terminals

• Struggle with long walking distances in mega airports

• Depend on airport staff because family cannot accompany them

Air india acknowledged a sharp rise in requests. This is not a niche issue—it is a structural one.

The Political Context: A System Built for Privilege, Not Accessibility

Aviation in india has moved aggressively toward branding itself “world-class.” Yet, in the race for glass façades, premium lounges, and designer retail zones, basic accessibility has rarely been a political priority.

Airports remain:

• English-first spaces

• Poorly signposted

• Confusing for first-time or elderly travellers

• Physically exhausting in terms of walking distances

• Understaffed in mobility assistance

If governments had mandated multilingual navigation, senior-friendly layouts, charging stations, moving walkways, and designated assistance lanes, the wheelchair surge wouldn’t feel like a crisis.

Instead, ageing indians are forced into a false choice: either walk kilometers inside terminals or request a wheelchair—whether medically required or not.

This is not misuse.
This is infrastructure failure.

Institutional & Bureaucratic Failures: Airports Built to Impress, Not Serve

Let’s list the invisible failures that mainstream debate refuses to acknowledge:

1. No multilingual signage

Why are India’s international airports still English-first in a country where a significant percentage of senior citizens are not fluent in English?

2. No navigation support for elderly parents traveling alone

Not even simple escort lanes or guidance booths exist to help them.

3. A crippling shortage of trained wheelchair assistants

Airlines outsource this work to third-party vendors who underpay staff while expecting them to push dozens of passengers daily—sometimes across multiple terminals.

4. airport design prioritizes retail revenue, not accessibility

More shops = longer walking distances.
More lounges = more segregation.
More profit = less mobility.

5. No government audit

Nobody knows:

• How wheelchair requests vary by age group

• How many are medically necessary

• How many are due to design flaws

When regulators don’t measure a problem, the public blames the victim.

Economic Incentives: Why airlines Don’t Want This Debate

Contrary to assumptions, wheelchair services cost airlines a significant amount: manpower, contractors, delays, compensation claims, and staffing.

But they also create perverse incentives:

• Wheelchair requests allow airlines to skip long immigration and security queues for passengers—reducing complaints and improving “on-time service.”

• Priority boarding and fast-track lanes reduce crowding chaos by shifting passengers into multiple streams.

• Airlines can quietly upsell or restructure service tiers when demand spikes.

So when industry leaders demand a ₹5,000 fee, it raises more questions than answers.

Are we improving accessibility—or are we monetising desperation?

Caste, Class & Social Dimensions: Who Gets Shamed, and Why

The most telling part of the debate was the online reaction:
“Fake wheelchair.”
“Queue jumpers.”
“Lazy.”
“Misuse by NRIs.”

This reflects a deeper social tension.

1. Elderly parents are not treated as a demographic group. They are treated as a burden.

Airport systems often assume travellers are young, English-speaking, and tech-savvy.

2. NRIs sending parents alone is seen as “privilege,” even when unavoidable.

Families abroad can’t take leave for every travel, and many elderly indians prefer independence.

3. Blame is easier than questioning systemic discrimination.

Wheelchair misuse became a trending accusation while airport inaccessibility remained invisible.

4. Class dynamics flipped.

Wealthy NRIs were mocked for using wheelchair services—yet the real class injustice lies elsewhere: the poorly paid assistants who push them.

What the media Ignored

Mainstream coverage largely missed these crucial angles:

1. The exploitation of wheelchair workers

Most assistants earn minimal wages while handling physically demanding, emotionally taxing work with little rest.

2. Why no senior-friendly infrastructure exists despite india ageing rapidly

By 2050, one in six indians will be above 60.

3. Foreign airports have already solved this problem

US, EU, and Japanese airports provide:

• Trained mobility staff

• Elderly navigation kiosks

• Clear multilingual signs

• Automated carts and walkways

• Legal protections under disability-rights legislation

India is acting surprised by a problem the rest of the world anticipated long ago.

4. The wheelchair system lacks transparency

No national data on:

• Delays caused

• Staffing levels

• Passenger demographics

• Abuse vs genuine demand

In absence of data, narratives dominate.

Who Benefits and Who Pays?

Beneficiaries:

• Airlines (reduced crowd chaos)

• Airports (more efficient flows)

• Families abroad (safer travel for elders)

• Private mobility contractors (more employment demand)

Those who pay the price:

• Elderly passengers, shamed for needing help

• Assistants who carry India’s aviation accessibility on their backs

• Travellers forced to feel guilty for not being physically fit

• The aviation industry, losing credibility globally

• A society that refuses to acknowledge its ageing reality

Contradictions & Hypocrisy

• Airports promote “world-class luxury” but cannot ensure world-class accessibility.

• India loves celebrating its diaspora success but shames their parents navigating airports.

• Corporate leaders advocate fees instead of structural change.

• The government celebrates airport expansion but ignores multilingual inclusivity.

• The debate focused on “misuse” rather than “why are so many people forced to ask for wheelchairs?”

The loudest contradiction:
We blame passengers for adapting to a broken system instead of questioning why the system is broken in the first place.

Long-term Implications: A Crisis Waiting to Explode

India is ageing faster than it is urbanising.
By 2050:

• 30 crore indians will be senior citizens.

• Airports, railways, metros, and hospitals will face unprecedented pressure.

• Mobility assistance will become a basic necessity, not a premium service.

If this crisis is not addressed, the next decade will see:

• Exploitation of mobility labour

• Surge pricing for accessibility

• Widening inequality for elderly travellers

• Erosion of dignity for senior citizens

• Airports becoming battlegrounds of class conflict

The wheelchair queue is not an anomaly.
It is the first warning.

If India’s airports cannot treat elderly mobility as a right today, what kind of country will we become as the people we love grow old tomorrow?