Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), India’s busiest aviation hub, returned to normal operations on Saturday, a day after a technical failure in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system caused massive disruption, delaying over 800 flights and stranding hundreds of passengers.
The disruption originated from the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), critical for flight planning, which went down around 5:45 a.m. on Friday.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) reported the system was fixed only by 9 p.m., forcing air traffic controllers to prepare flight plans manually, a time-consuming process that compounded delays.
“All flight operations are normal at Delhi Airport... passengers are advised to stay in touch with their respective airlines for the latest flight updates,” Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) said on X.
Civil aviation minister K. Rammohan Naidu ordered a detailed root-cause analysis and called for additional servers to strengthen ATC systems, underlining the stakes of such failures at a hub handling over 1,500 daily flight movements.
IndiGo, the country’s largest airline, confirmed on Saturday that operations were stabilising: “The airport operator and Air Traffic Control (ATC) teams are working on a priority basis to fully restore systems and stabilise operations. The situation is expected to be normalised over the next few hours. During this period, some departure and arrival timings may continue to be adjusted.”
Despite Saturday’s restoration, flight tracking data showed more than 500 flights still delayed due to Friday’s backlog. Some services had been cancelled on Friday, leaving travelers stranded.
The AAI said, “The OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) was engaged, and additional staff were deployed to manually process Flight Plans for the Air Traffic Control system to ensure uninterrupted and safe air traffic operations immediately. A team of ECIL officials and AAI personnel is still on site. The AMSS systems are up and functional now. Due to some backlogs, there may be some delays in the normal functioning of automated operations, but the situation will be normal soon.”