Normalcy returning at Delhi airport after 15-hour ATC system outage

Flight operations at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) began returning to normal on Saturday morning after a major air traffic control system glitch disrupted schedules and delayed more than 800 flights a day earlier.

The technical issue affected the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), which supports the air traffic control’s flight planning process, and lasted for over 15 hours from around 5:45 am on Friday until the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said late in the evening that it had been resolved.

Delhi airport operator DIAL said on Saturday that airline operations were “returning to normal” and that authorities were working to minimise inconvenience to passengers. “All concerned authorities are working diligently to minimise any inconvenience caused,” it said in a post on X.

Passenger Advisory issued at 11:55 Hours#DelhiAirport #PassengerAdvisory #DELAdvisory pic.twitter.com/MVhCgQrSTr

— Delhi Airport (@DelhiAirport) November 8, 2025

The IGIA, which handles more than 1,500 flight movements daily across its four runways, saw significant disruptions on Friday as controllers were forced to prepare flight plans manually due to the outage.

According to flight tracking website Flightradar24.com, more than 200 flights, both arrivals and departures, were still delayed at the airport on Saturday morning. It was not immediately clear whether all delays were linked to the AMSS issue, which officials said was gradually improving.

IndiGo, the country’s largest airline, said on Saturday that the airport operator and air traffic control teams were working on priority to 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,” the airline said on X.

Sources said the AMSS system had first shown signs of technical issues on Thursday afternoon, with a complete outage occurring early on Friday. The AAI deployed additional manpower to manually process flight plans, a time-consuming procedure that ensured continued safe operations despite delays.

In a statement on Friday evening, the AAI confirmed that the “technical issue in the AMSS, which caused delays in processing flight plan messages,” had been addressed.

“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,” the AAI said, adding that a team of ECIL and AAI personnel remained 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,” it added.

(With inputs from news agencies)