Delhi Airport Hit By Massive Tech Glitch, Over 100 Flights Delayed; Airlines Issue Advisory

New Delhi: More than 100 flights were delayed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) on Friday morning after a technical failure in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system. The airport operator confirmed the issue, while leading carriers issued travel advisories to affected passengers.

In a post on X, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said, "Flight operations at Delhi Airport are experiencing delays due to a technical issue in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), which supports Air Traffic Control data. Controllers are processing flight plans manually, leading to some delays. Technical teams are working to restore the system at the earliest..."

What Happened

Shortly before the morning rush of departures began, the airport issued a public advisory, “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 were asked to stay in touch with their airlines for updates.

According to a report, the underlying cause appears to be a malfunction in the airport’s Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), which supplies data to the Auto Track System (ATS) for flight-plan preparation.

As a result, controllers were forced to prepare flight plans manually, a time-intensive process that significantly slowed operations and created a backlog. 

Flight tracking data showed the average departure delay rising to around 50-55 minutes for many flights.

According to flight tracking website Flightradar24, 513 flights were delayed on Thursday alone and 171 delayed since morning.

Several airlines, including IndiGo, Air India and SpiceJet, confirmed their operations were impacted across Delhi and parts of northern India.

The IGIA handles over 1,500 flight movements daily, making any disruption significant. As more than 100 flights were delayed, the vulnerability of key aviation infrastructure to system failures draws attention.

Passenger Experience

For travellers, the flight delays led to chaos at the airport. Longer waits at boarding gates, queued departures and uncertain onward connections left many in panic. Industry sources said boarding-gate congestion built quickly as flights were held back and arrivals stacked up.

Airline advisories emphasised patience and checking flight status. SpiceJet said, “Due to ATC congestion at Delhi, all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights might get affected. Passengers are requested to keep a check on their flight status.” 

The incident comes on the heels of other recent operational pressures at IGIA-ATC. One investigation into a 2023 “near-miss” cited heavy workload on ATC staff as a factor. 

Repeated system glitches raise questions about resilience of the technical backbone, especially as traffic volumes grow and Mumbai/Delhi competition intensifies.

For stakeholders, it signals a need to reassess redundancy, recovery protocols and stakeholder coordination (airport operator, ATC service provider, airlines) to avoid cascading disruptions.

The airport and ATC teams say they are working to resolve the glitch “as early as possible”. Meanwhile, airlines are reworking schedules, rerouting aircraft and updating passengers.