Malware Suspected Behind Delhi Airport ATC Meltdown; All Flights After 6 PM Cancelled

New Delhi: The disruption of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) on Friday is being investigated as more than just a technical snag, with preliminary inputs suggesting a possible malware-induced overload in the automation software, sources within the ATC told Republic.

As the disruption persisted through the evening, airport authorities announced that all departing flights scheduled after 6 pm stand cancelled, citing continued instability in the ATC’s automated systems and the need to ensure passenger safety until full restoration is confirmed.

The technical failure, which led to widespread flight delays through the day, crippled the automated systems that handle flight plans and meteorological data, both critical for flight clearance and airspace management.

Explaining the cascading impact of the glitch, Captain Sharath Panicker, an aviation expert, said the failure forced controllers to revert to manual operations.

“The failure of the system basically means that the flight plans, which each aircraft has to submit prior to operating, instead of being interpreted by the computer and automatically, have to be manually fed into the system, which leads to the delay,” Panicker said.

“In addition, all the meteorological information that comes from various stations across the country is integrated into this one conduit, available through the Automatic Terminal Information System (ATIS). This, too, had to be done manually. Once the aircraft is in the air, there isn’t much delay expected, but the process of getting it into the air takes longer.”

Sources indicated that preliminary forensic checks are underway to determine if the disruption was triggered by a software overload or a deliberate cyber intrusion aimed at crippling the system’s automation backbone. While officials have not ruled out a malware attack, they stressed that air safety remained uncompromised throughout the incident.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) and DGCA are jointly reviewing the failure, while IT and security experts are examining whether the automation software was targeted. Backup systems were reportedly activated soon after the failure was detected.

“The processing and support for resolving the technical glitches are already underway, and hopefully, somewhere down the line today, this will be resolved,” Captain Panicker added.

Operations continued through manual coordination for most of the day, resulting in cascading delays and longer turnaround times for both domestic and international departures.

Though no official confirmation has been issued on the source of the malfunction, aviation authorities are treating the episode with urgency, given its potential implications for airport cyber resilience and flight safety nationwide.

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