Flight operations at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport were thrown into disarray on Friday morning after a major technical glitch crippled the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system, triggering widespread
delays across North India.
Sources told CNN-News18 that the issue stems from a failure in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS)- the critical backend platform that feeds essential data to the Auto Track System (ATS), which generates flight plans. With the AMSS down, the system that stores planned flight details, routes, aircraft information and estimated timings has been disrupted, forcing air traffic controllers to process everything manually.
By 9 am this morning, congestion had built up across all terminals, with several aircraft awaiting clearance as controllers worked through flight plans manually- a significantly slower process. The disruption has affected both departures and arrivals and delays are expected to continue until the AMSS is restored.
AAI Denies Cyberattack, Delhi Police Not Alerted
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack. Delhi Police’s cyber unit has also confirmed that it has received no alert regarding any such incident.
Officials said the AMSS server has been down since early Friday morning and it remains unclear when full restoration will take place.
“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,” AAI said in a statement.
DIAL, Airlines Confirm Delays Across North India
Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) confirmed that operations were impacted due to the ATC system failure and said the ATC team was “actively working with all stakeholders including DIAL” to resolve the issue.
India’s largest carriers also cautioned passengers about cascading delays. IndiGo said, “Flight operations at Delhi and several northern regions are impacted due to a technical issue with the ATC system… extended wait times may cause inconvenience.”
Air India noted, “A technical issue with the ATC system in Delhi is impacting flight operations across all airlines… Our crew and staff are extending assistance to reduce inconvenience.”
