Delhi IGI Airport Resumes Flight Operations After AMSS Glitch Delays Over 200 Flights

New Delhi: One of the busiest airports in the world, IGI Airport, experienced a technical glitch in the ATC system for over a day, resulting in more than 200 flights being delayed at the airport on November 7. The Indian Airports Authority announced late on Friday that the system used to create flight plans was "up and running". 

The shares of IndiGo (INGL.NS) and SpiceJet (SPJT.BO) fell 2% and 1%, respectively, on Friday due to the glitch that delayed flights and arrivals. The airlines, along with Air India Group, warned of difficulties that are anticipated to continue into Saturday. Given the massive backlog, the Airports Authority of India stated that it will take some time for the system to return to normal operation.

According to reports, the system began to break at around 6 p.m. the day before, causing at least 200 aircraft to be delayed on Friday. "The issue was detected... in the IP-based Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS)," AAI said in a post on X, without providing details on the cause of the technical issue.

IndiGo, which holds a 60% market share in India's domestic aviation industry, verified on social media platform X shortly after the AAI announcement that its operations at airports in Delhi and other northern Indian cities were progressively returning to normal.

A Virgin Atlantic aircraft to London was delayed by more than an hour, and an ITA Airways trip to Rome was delayed by about two hours due to the fault. The AAI stated earlier on Friday that delays occurred because the controllers had to create flight plans manually due to a problem in the AMSS. 

According to a second source acquainted with the situation, certain airlines, including Air India Express, assigned their own employees to air traffic control to create flight plans. The incident follows a ransomware attack on some of Europe's largest airports, which disrupted automated check-in systems and caused flight disruptions.

According to reports, the Indian malfunction caused about 175 airplane departures to be delayed on Friday and 25 on Thursday at Delhi airport. The airport in Delhi handles between 60 and 70 aircraft movements every hour. According to Flightradar24 data, the average departure delay was 60 minutes on Friday night.

According to Airports Council International, Delhi airport was the 7th busiest in the world in 2024, handling over 78 million passengers. The AAI is responsible for air traffic control; however, GMR Airports owns the bulk of the airport operator.

Also Read: Delhi Airport Chaos: AMSS System Restored After Technical Glitch Delays Over 800 Flights, Operations Expected To Resume Soon