Chaos at Delhi airport as over 400 flights delayed
What's the story
The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in Delhi witnessed major flight disruptions on Friday due to a technical glitch in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system. The disruption affected both departures and arrivals, with more than 400 flights being delayed, per reports. The issue started on Thursday evening when air traffic controllers had to manually prepare flight plans.
Delay details
Problem traced to automatic message switching system
The problem was traced to the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), which feeds data to the Auto Track System (AMS) for flight plan generation. With this automated process down, controllers had to manually enter flight details using available data, resulting in congestion and significant delays. The airport, which sees over 1,500 flight movements daily, has been witnessing average departure delays of around 50 minutes, according to Flightradar24.
Passenger advisory
Airlines issue advisories for passengers
In light of the disruptions, passengers have been advised to stay in touch with their respective airlines for real-time updates. In a statement, the Delhi Airport advisory said, "Due to a technical issue with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system, flight operations at IGIA are experiencing delays. Their team is actively working with all stakeholders including DIAL to resolve it at the earliest." "Passengers are advised to stay in touch with their respective airlines for the latest flight updates."
IndiGo statement
IndiGo acknowledges impact on operations
Following the update, SpiceJet has urged passengers to check their flight status, saying, "Due to ATC congestion at Delhi, all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights might get affected." IndiGo also acknowledged the impact of the ATC system issue on its operations. The airline said, "Flight operations at Delhi Airport are currently experiencing delays due to a technical issue with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system." It added that flight operations in several northern regions were affected too.
Air India
Over 30 minutes delay
Meanwhile, a passenger on board an Air India flight said that the glitch led to delays of more than 30 minutes on several flights. They told IANS that the flight had been waiting on the runway for over half an hour and that the crew cited a technical issue with the ATC system as the cause of the delay. "Operations are expected to return to normal soon," Air India crew informed passengers.