Chaos reigned at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi international airport on Friday after over 300 domestic and international flights were delayed due to a technical malfunction in its air traffic control messaging system.
Thousands of passengers were stranded at India’s busiest airport after the glitch held back departures by more than 30 minutes, sparking concerns of cascading delays and wider logjams across the country’s airport network.
“Airline operations at the Delhi airport are currently delayed. Concerned authorities are working on resolving the issue at the earliest,” the airport said in an advisory.
According to the Airports Authority of India, the problem lay with the Automatic Message Switching System, a communication network that provides…
Chaos reigned at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi international airport on Friday after over 300 domestic and international flights were delayed due to a technical malfunction in its air traffic control messaging system.
Thousands of passengers were stranded at India’s busiest airport after the glitch held back departures by more than 30 minutes, sparking concerns of cascading delays and wider logjams across the country’s airport network.
“Airline operations at the Delhi airport are currently delayed. Concerned authorities are working on resolving the issue at the earliest,” the airport said in an advisory.
According to the Airports Authority of India, the problem lay with the Automatic Message Switching System, a communication network that provides data for the Auto Track System, which generates flight plans. This forced air traffic controllers to process flight plans manually, causing delays and airspace congestion around the capital.
The problem began on Thursday evening local time, India Today reported, citing unnamed sources.
Air India planes sit on the tarmac at the Delhi airport (AFP via Getty)
“Technical teams are working to restore the system at the earliest,” the Airport Authority of India said in a post on X.
The issue delayed more than 175 flight departures by more than 30 minutes on Friday morning and 25 flights on Thursday, according to local news reports. The airport handles 60-70 aircraft movements per hour.
The delay in departures could force airlines to cancel some evening flights due to a lack of parking space on the runway, sources told the broadcaster.
Airlines instructed passengers to check their flight status before leaving for the airport to avoid longer queues.
Air India said its cabin crew and on-ground staff were extending immediate assistance to reduce passenger inconvenience.
Budget carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet said flights in Delhi and several northern regions were impacted. SpiceJet said its crew and ground team were working closely with the airport authorities to minimise inconvenience.
“We understand that extended wait times, both on the ground and onboard, may cause inconvenience, and we sincerely appreciate your patience,” IndiGo said in a statement.
The chaos in Delhi follows a ransomware attack that disrupted operations at some of Europe’s biggest airports in September, knocking out check-in systems and affecting flights.
Data from Flightradar24 showed that the average departure delay was 55 minutes.
The malfunctioning system in Delhi hit several international airlines, with an ITA Airways flight to Rome delayed by nearly two hours and a Virgin Atlantic flight to London by more than an hour. Flights scheduled to take off between 6am and 8am local time were the most affected.
Aircraft were still landing at the airport but take-offs were disrupted, a source noted, and Air Traffic Control had not yet told airlines when the problem would be resolved.
The Delhi airport handled 78 million passengers in 2024, making it the ninth busiest airport in the world, according to the Airports Council International. The operator of the airport is majority owned by GMR Airports while air traffic control is managed by the Airports Authority of India.