Love Books? Pick One Up For Free At 68 Airports Across India

If your airport waiting time is built around departure boards, coffee queues and phone screens, then there is news for you. 68 airports across India are introducing Flybrary, a free book-sharing initiative that lets you pick up a book, read it while waiting or during the journey, and return it at another participating airport. This expansion contributes to the shift from treating airports merely as transit points towards creating spaces where passengers can thoughtfully utilise their waiting time.

Flybrary does not come with membership cards, borrowing counters or fixed return deadlines. Instead, it operates on a take-a-book, and a read-and-return model. The initiative was developed by the Bakul Foundation in partnership with the Airports Authority of India (AAI), and first started at Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar in February 2025. What started as a small experiment has since been extended to 68 airports.

How Does Flybrary Work?

The concept is simple. Find Flybrary shelves at participating airports, browse the available books and take one without paying a fee. You can read it at the terminal or carry it onto your flight. Once you are done, the book can be returned to a Flybrary at the destination airport, allowing another passenger to continue the cycle.

The original Bhubaneswar model also allows passengers to take books beyond the airport and return them on a subsequent visit. You can even contribute books, and help in replenishing the collection. Sujit Mahapatra, founder of the Bakul Foundation, has previously described the initiative as a community-driven reading effort rather than a conventional lending library. At Bhubaneswar, shelves were placed in both the departure and arrival areas, and passengers were free to take or leave books for others.

The scheme depends less on administration and more on passenger participation. There is no need for a formal borrowing process and the same copy can potentially move from one airport to another as passengers finish reading it and place it back on the stands.

From Bhubaneswar To 68 Airports

The first Flybrary facility was installed at Biju Patnaik International Airport in February 2025 as India's first airport “Take a Book” library. Later it was taken up as part of the Ministry of Civil Aviation's effort to introduce more passenger-oriented facilities at airports. 

At Ranchi's Birsa Munda Airport, for example, Flybrary was inaugurated alongside a UDAN Yatri Café, an Awasar outlet and a Kids Zone in May 2026. Now, the network includes airports such as Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Bhuj, Darbhanga, Khajuraho, Kullu-Manali, Mangaluru, Diu and Amritsar, among others. 

Why Is An Airport Library Relevant Now? 

India's airport infrastructure has expanded considerably, with air travel connecting an increasingly broad range of cities. As airports diversify into multi-purpose public spaces, the question is no longer how quickly passengers can move through them but also how they spend time between security, boarding and departure.

That is where a low-cost reading initiative has a useful role. Airport waiting periods are inevitable, particularly for passengers arriving early, dealing with connections or facing delays. Flybrary offers an alternative to using that time through digital entertainment without requiring passengers to download an app, buy a book or find a specialised shop.

There is also a cultural dimension to the model. The original Bhubaneswar collection included novels, children's literature, magazines, self-help titles and books in English, Hindi and Odia. This makes it more than an amenity for frequent flyers; it functions as a small public reading space where travellers encounter books they might not otherwise pick up.

A practical challenge to the model is that books can leave the shelves faster than they return, creating a constant need for replenishment. So if you are flying soon, spot a Flybrary, choose a book, read it, and do not forget to pass it forward. If there is a book, you would want to travel the country, do drop it in an eligible Flybrary outlet as well.

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