Bored at the Airport? Don’t Scroll—Pick Up a Free Book Instead!

Stuck at the airport with time to kill? Before reaching for your phone and getting lost in another endless scroll, look around and you might spot a free book.India’s Flybrary initiative, now available at 68 airports, is giving travellers an unusual travel companion: a book they can pick up, read during their journey and return at another participating airport. It is a simple idea, but one that could transform those familiar hours spent waiting at boarding gates.Instead of scrolling, passengers can now read.Pick. Read. Fly. Return.The concept is refreshingly easy. Spot a Flybrary shelf, choose a book that catches your eye and start reading. Passengers can read while waiting or carry the book onto their flight. Where the facility is available, they can return it at a participating Flybrary location at their destination.Travellers can also donate their own books at participating locations, helping keep the reading cycle moving from one passenger to another.The collections are designed for a wide range of readers, featuring novels, children's books, magazines, self-help titles, coffee-table books and books in Indian languages.At the original Flybrary in Bhubaneswar, separate shelves serve arriving and departing passengers.From Bhubaneswar to 68 AirportsFlybrary was conceptualised by Sujit Mahapatra, founder of the Bakul Foundation, in partnership with the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The initiative began at Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar in February 2025.The idea has since taken flight. Flybrary shelves are now available at 68 airports across India, including Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Bhuj, Darbhanga, Khajuraho, Kullu-Manali, Mangaluru, Diu and Amritsar, among others.The initiative recently received a boost in visibility when Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu highlighted it, praising the response from passengers. He described Flybrary as part of a broader effort to make airports more passenger-centric spaces, alongside initiatives such as UDAN Yatri Cafes, Awasar SHG outlets, Kids Zones and free Wi-Fi.A Book That Travels With YouA traveller could pick up a book, take it aboard the flight and return it at the airport where they landed. And that is perhaps what makes Flybrary so charming.The book does not simply sit on a shelf. It travels. One passenger discovers it at a departure gate. Another may continue the journey from a different city. A donated book can find readers it may never otherwise have reached.In an age of constant screens and hurried journeys, Flybrary offers a wonderfully simple invitation: Your flight may be delayed. Your reading adventure doesn’t have to be.