Delhi Airport Operations Improve After Major ATC Glitch

Flight operations at Delhi Airport are gradually returning to normal following a significant technical glitch that impacted Air Traffic Control (ATC) systems for nearly two days. The issue began on Thursday evening when ATC officers detected missing flight plan data on their terminals. It soon became evident that the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), which assists with ATC flight planning, had failed.

This disruption caused extensive delays, with over 500 flights affected on Thursday night. By Friday, the number had risen to nearly 800, resulting in chaos across terminals. Thousands of passengers were stranded, waiting long hours as departure boards displayed frequent schedule changes. Many passengers also shared on social media that they were kept inside the aircraft for extended periods before takeoff.

By Saturday, the situation had significantly improved. According to the flight tracking platform Flightradar24, a total of 129 flights were delayed—53 arrivals and 76 departures—a marked decrease from the previous day. The average arrival delay was just 5 minutes, while departure delays averaged around 19 minutes.

Delhi Airport issued a statement confirming that the AMSS-related issue was gradually improving. The airport authority stated that all departments were working diligently to restore normal operations and minimize inconvenience for passengers. Travelers were advised to stay updated by contacting their airlines directly.

IndiGo Airlines, one of the carriers most affected by the glitch, also released an advisory indicating that the temporary system failure had been resolved. The airline noted that normal operations were being restored across Delhi and other impacted airports in northern India. However, it cautioned that minor delays and congestion at terminals might persist for a few more hours until the system fully stabilizes.

Sources indicated that while the AMSS failure interrupted the automatic flow of flight messages, there was no risk to aircraft already in the air. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) confirmed that flight safety was never compromised. During the outage, airlines switched to preparing flight plans manually to maintain operations.

Authorities expect a complete normalization soon as technical teams continue to monitor and restore all systems. After nearly 36 hours of disruption, passengers are finally experiencing smoother departures and arrivals at India’s busiest airport.