Delhi Airport Resumes Operations After Major Technical Glitch, But Flight Delays Persist

New Delhi: Flight operations at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) are slowly returning to normal after a massive technical glitch caused widespread disruption across India’s airspace on Friday. Airport authorities confirmed that systems were “gradually improving,” but several delays are still being reported on Saturday morning.

Over 800 flights were delayed and at least 20 canceled due to the malfunction, which brought chaos to one of the world’s busiest airports. IGI Airport handles more than 1,500 flight movements daily, making even brief disruptions ripple through the country’s aviation network.

Officials urged passengers to remain in touch with their respective airlines for updated flight schedules, emphasizing that “all concerned agencies are working diligently to minimize inconvenience.” The advisory was issued around 6:30 AM on Saturday as operations started to stabilize.

AAI Confirms Restoration of ATC Systems

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) confirmed late Friday night that the technical glitch had been resolved. The problem, which crippled automated communication between air traffic systems, led to manual coordination by air traffic controllers across multiple airports in North India.

“The AMSS systems are now operational. Automated operations may still experience minor delays due to backlogs, but flight schedules will soon normalize,” the AAI said in an official statement.

IndiGo Issues Passenger Advisory

Low-cost carrier IndiGo Airlines also released an advisory acknowledging gradual recovery in flight operations. The airline confirmed that “normal operations are being progressively restored at Delhi Airport and other impacted northern airports.”

IndiGo urged travelers to check flight status before heading to the airport, cautioning that “delays and terminal congestion may persist for a while as operations stabilize.” The airline also commended the airport and ATC teams for swiftly addressing the issue and restoring system functionality.

What Exactly Happened?

According to official sources, the disruption stemmed from a malfunction in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS) — a crucial component of India’s air traffic network that transmits data to the Auto Track System (ATS) for flight plan creation and coordination. The outage, which began late Thursday, forced air traffic controllers to switch to manual operations, leading to widespread delays.

The AAI stated that the AMSS was fully restored by late Friday night, allowing for gradual resumption of automated flight scheduling. Until then, airlines including Air India Express and Vistara deployed additional staff to manually prepare flight plans and assist ground operations.

According to Reuters, several international flights were affected, including a Virgin Atlantic service to London that was delayed by more than an hour and an ITA Airways flight to Rome delayed by nearly two hours.

Operations Gradually Normalizing

As of Saturday morning, most airlines reported improving turnaround times and resumed schedules, though minor cascading delays are expected throughout the weekend. Authorities said that additional technical checks are being conducted to ensure system stability and prevent similar incidents in the future.

Travelers flying out of Delhi have been advised to arrive at least three hours before departure and stay connected through airline apps or official airport updates for real-time information.