The Delhi airport witnessed huge chaos on Friday with over 800 flights reportedly delayed, many cancelled and wait times increased due to a technical glitch in the air traffic control system.
Later in the day, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said that while some minor delays in automated operations may continue, normalcy will be restored soon.
Delhi Airport, in an advisory on November 8, said operations were stabilizing, noting, “The technical issue which affected the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), that supports the Air Traffic Control flight planning process, is gradually improving. Airline operations at Delhi Airport are returning to normal, and all concerned authorities are working diligently to minimise any inconvenience caused. Passengers are advised to stay in touch with their airlines for the latest flight update,” according to ANI.
All airline operations at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport were disrupted after a technical issue hit the Automatic Message Switching System, which supports air traffic control data.
Sources said more than 800 flights were delayed and at least 20 were cancelled. IGIA handles more than 1,500 flight movements a day.
What is the update from Airports Authority of India?
In a post on X at 8:56 pm, AAI said it had resolved the technical issue in the Automatic Message Switching System, which had delayed the processing of flight plan messages.
The glitch was detected on November 6 in the IP-based AMSS system, after which the Civil Aviation Secretary held a review meeting with the AAI Chairman, Member ANS and other officials to issue immediate directions.
“The OEM was engaged, and additional staff were deployed to manually process flight plans for the Air Traffic Control system to ensure uninterrupted and safe operations. A team of ECIL officials and AAI personnel remains on site. The AMSS is now up and functional. Due to some backlogs, automated operations may still see minor delays, but the situation will normalise soon. We regret the inconvenience caused to airlines and passengers,” it added.
‘Enquiry to be conducted, system is functional’
A team from Electronics Corporation of India Ltd joined AAI personnel on site, and the system is now functional. An enquiry will be conducted to determine the cause of the malfunction.
AAI said extra manpower was deployed to ensure continuity of air traffic control services, while officials from ECIL remained present to monitor system stability.
Data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24.com showed more than 800 delays at Delhi airport, with departure delays averaging around 50 minutes.
IndiGo, Air India, Air India Express, SpiceJet and Akasa Air all reported delays due to the ATC system issue.
Sources said long queues formed near boarding gates as hundreds of passengers waited for updates, with controllers preparing flight plans manually, a time-consuming process that further slowed operations.
Earlier, airport operator DIAL confirmed delays across all airline operations and said authorities were working to fix the issue at the earliest.
