Delhi Airport faces widespread flight delays after an ATC system breakdown

Dubai: Flight operations at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), India’s busiest aviation hub, were severely disrupted on Friday as a computer malfunction in the airport’s air-traffic control (ATC) infrastructure caused widespread delays

The problem, identified by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), arose in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS) — a critical module that feeds flight-plan data to the ATC’s Auto Track System (ATS). As a result, air-traffic controllers were forced to revert to manual processing of flight plans, significantly slowing down departures.

According to multiple sources, over 150 flights had been delayed by mid-morning on Friday, as delays from the previous evening carried over. On Thursday alone, flight-tracking data recorded 513 delayed flights at the airport. Average departure delays were reported to hover around 50-55 minutes, with some flights delayed even longer. Carriers such as IndiGo, Air India, and SpiceJet acknowledged the disruption across Delhi and the northern region and asked passengers to remain updated on flight status alerts.

AAI confirmed that technical teams are working to restore full automation as soon as possible, and that departures will resume usual pacing once the systems are operational. The authority urged passengers to check with their airlines before heading to the terminal.

With IGIA handling in excess of 1,500 movements a day, the glitch has generated a ripple effect across the wider Indian aviation network, raising fresh questions about system-resilience and contingency preparedness at major airports.

With inputs from ANI, Bloomberg