New Delhi: Flight operations at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport are slowly returning to normal after a major disruption caused by a technical glitch in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system.
The problem, which affected the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), led to widespread delays and cancellations of flights since Thursday evening.
According to the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the issue was detected on November 6 and immediately taken up for rectification. The AMSS, which handles the exchange of flight plan messages between controllers and pilots, had malfunctioned, forcing air traffic controllers to process flight plans manually. This slowed down operations and caused delays across several airports in the country.
More than 800 flights were affected on Friday, with passengers facing long waits and cancellations. By Saturday morning, the situation had improved, with only around 129 flights delayed, including 53 arrivals and 76 departures. Airport authorities said the average delay time had also reduced to under 20 minutes for departures.
Officials said the system has now been restored and flight operations are gradually stabilizing. However, residual delays are expected to continue as airlines and controllers clear the backlog of pending flight plans.
The glitch also affected other airports such as Ahmedabad, where around 70 flights were delayed and six were cancelled due to dependence on Delhi’s ATC system.
Sources within the aviation sector said that while the immediate technical issue has been fixed, a deeper probe is underway to determine the root cause of the problem. Some reports have mentioned the possibility of GPS spoofing, though authorities have not confirmed any cyberattack link so far.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has ordered a detailed review to prevent such disruptions in the future. AAI officials, along with the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), are assessing the system’s stability to ensure full restoration of services.
Passengers are advised to check flight updates with their respective airlines before traveling to the airport.
Authorities said they regret the inconvenience caused and assured that necessary measures are being taken to strengthen system resilience and avoid a repeat of the incident.