“Delhi Airport Faces Tech Glitch, 800 Flights Delayed; Operations to Resume Shortly”

Technical Glitch at Delhi Airport Delays Over 800 Flights, Operations Resume Slowly

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) faced major disruptions on Friday after a technical snag in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system delayed more than 800 flights, stranding hundreds of passengers across terminals. The issue, which began late Thursday, affected the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), a key communication network that feeds data to the Auto Track System (ATS), responsible for generating flight plans for controllers. The AMSS was restored by late Friday evening.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) said in a passenger advisory, “Flight operations at Delhi Airport were disrupted due to a technical issue with the AMSS supporting the ATC flight planning process. All airline operations were impacted. Authorities are working to resolve the issue at the earliest.” Passengers were advised to check with their airlines for updated schedules.

During the outage, controllers had to manually process flight plans, slowing operations and causing congestion in the airspace. The glitch also affected the Automatic Terminal Information System (ATIS), which provides crucial meteorological data to pilots and controllers. Aviation expert Captain Sharath Panicker explained, “Manual processing of flight plans takes much longer, which naturally leads to delays. Weather updates also had to be fed manually, further slowing departures.”

IGIA, India’s busiest airport with over 1,500 daily flight movements, saw average departure delays of 45–50 minutes by 9 am, according to Flightradar24. Airlines including IndiGo, SpiceJet, and Air India issued advisories warning passengers of possible disruptions.

Passengers reported long queues, repeated rescheduling, and extended waits inside aircraft. Social media was filled with complaints from those stuck without clear information.

AAI, along with ECIL officials and OEM support, restored the AMSS by late evening. “Though minor delays may persist due to backlogs, automated operations are resuming, and normalcy is expected shortly,” said an AAI statement. Officials also noted that the disruption caused ripple effects at other airports, including Mumbai, Lucknow, Jaipur, Chandigarh, and Amritsar, as flight schedules were impacted.