ATC Glitch Cripples Delhi Airport, Over 800 Flights Face Major Delays

Flight operations at Delhi Airport, one of India’s busiest aviation hubs, were reported to be “gradually improving” nearly 36 hours after a major technical glitch disrupted the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system.

According to flight tracking platform Flightradar24, a total of 129 flights, 53 arrivals and 76 departures were delayed on Saturday, a significant drop from the nearly 800 delays recorded on Friday. The average delay for arriving flights stood at around five minutes, while departures faced an average delay of 19 minutes.

In a statement issued this morning, the Delhi airport authority said, “The technical issue that affected the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), which supports the Air Traffic Control flight planning process, is gradually improving. Airline operations at Delhi Airport are returning to normal, and all concerned authorities are working diligently to minimise any inconvenience caused.”

Passengers have been advised to stay in touch with their respective airlines for the latest flight updates.

IndiGo Airlines, one of the major carriers impacted by the outage, issued an advisory stating that flight operations at Delhi Airport are now being “progressively restored.”

“We are pleased to inform that the temporary AMSS system outage affecting Air Traffic Control has been resolved, and normal operations are now being progressively restored at Delhi Airport and other affected airports across the northern region. We appreciate the efforts of the airport and ATC authorities for swiftly addressing the issue and restoring systems. As operations stabilise, some delays and terminal congestion may persist for a while, and we thank our passengers for their patience during this transition to normalcy,” the airline said.

In another update, the airline stated, “Airport operators and ATC teams are working on a priority to fully restore systems and stabilise operations. The situation is expected to return to normal within the next few hours. During this time, some departure and arrival schedules may continue to be adjusted.”

Chaos at Delhi Airport as Hundreds of Flights Delayed After ATC Glitch

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport descended into chaos late Thursday after a major technical failure hit the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system, leading to massive flight disruptions. Over 500 flights were delayed on Thursday night, and by Friday, the number had climbed to nearly 800.

Average departure delays ranged between 45 minutes and an hour, while arrivals were also affected due to limited parking bays and airspace congestion. Thousands of passengers were left stranded, many waiting for hours as departure boards repeatedly flashed delay updates. Several passengers took to social media to report being held inside the aircraft for extended periods before take-off.

According to sources, the problem first surfaced on Thursday evening when ATC officers noticed missing flight plan data on their terminals. Within minutes, it became clear that the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS) had failed, disrupting the automatic flow of flight messages. With flight plans no longer appearing on their screens, controllers had to process them manually, further slowing down operations. The system eventually stopped sending data to the auto-track network.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) clarified that while such technical failures are rare, flight safety was never compromised. “There was no impact on aircraft already in the air. The disruption was limited to pre-departure message flow and flight plan processing,” the AAI said in a statement.

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