New Delhi, November 7, 2025
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has confirmed that the technical glitch that crippled Air Traffic Control (ATC) operations at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has been resolved. After hours of widespread disruption that delayed an estimated 800 flights and stranded thousands of passengers, the core air traffic systems are now reported to be fully functional.
The malfunction, which began causing issues as early as late Thursday and escalated severely throughout Friday morning, brought India’s busiest aviation hub to a near standstill.
The Breakdown: AMSS Failure Forces Manual Operations
The root of the chaos was traced to a failure in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS). This critical system acts as the central communication network, automatically distributing flight plan data to the Air Traffic Controllers’ Auto Track Systems.
When the AMSS went down, air traffic controllers were forced to abandon automation and revert to manual processing of all flight plans. This essential but slow procedure drastically reduced the number of flights that could be safely managed per hour, creating a massive bottleneck on the ground and in the airspace.
“Controllers were preparing flight plans manually, which is taking significant time,” a senior airport source explained, as average departure delays climbed to over 50 minutes. The cascading effect was felt across the country, with delays and congestion reported at other major hubs, including Mumbai, Lucknow, and Jaipur.
AAI Confirms Stability, Focus Turns to Clearing Backlog
Following an urgent review and round-the-clock efforts by technical teams, including specialists from the Original Equipment Manufacturer, the AAI announced the successful restoration of the system late Friday evening.
“The glitch has been fixed now, and the AMSS systems are up and functional,” the Airports Authority of India confirmed in a statement. “The AMSS has now been restored to normal functionality.”
During the period of disruption, over 800 domestic and international flights were impacted, with reports of at least 20 cancellations as airlines struggled to manage the operational slowdown and crew duty time limits.
While the technical crisis is over, airport authorities have cautioned that minor delays may persist temporarily as the system works to clear the substantial backlog of flights. Passengers are advised to maintain communication with their respective airlines for real-time updates on their flight status as operations slowly return to full normalcy.
The incident underscores the heavy reliance of modern aviation on automated technology and the far-reaching consequences when a single critical system fails.
