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India says technical glitch with air traffic system at Delhi airport resolved
INDIA-AVIATION-DELHI:India says technical glitch with air traffic system at Delhi airport resolved
By Abhijith Ganapavaram and Tanvi Mehta
NEW DELHI -The Indian airports authority said late on Friday that a system used to generate flight plans was "up and running," more than a day after a technical glitch led to delays of hundreds of flights at Delhi airport, one of the world's busiest.
The malfunction, which had delayed departures and arrivals, had sent shares of IndiGo 2% lower on Friday, while SpiceJet lost 1% after the airlines, along with Air India Group, warned of disruptions, which are expected to spill over into Saturday.
The Airports Authority of India said it will take some time for the system to resume functioning normally, given the huge backlog. At least 200 flights were delayed on Friday after the system started malfunctioning at around 6 p.m. the previous day, a source familiar with the matter had told Reuters.
"The issue was detected... in the IP-based Automatic Message Switching System ." AAI said in a post on X, without providing details on the cause of the technical issue.
The malfunction in the AMSS, used to generate flight plans, forced controllers to develop them manually, leading to delays, the AAI said earlier on Friday. Some airlines, such as Air India Express, deputed their own personnel to air traffic control to generate flight plans manually, a second source familiar with the matter said.
The incident follows a ransomware attack that disrupted some of Europe's biggest airports, knocking out automated check-in systems and affecting flights in September.
The glitch in India delayed about 25 flight departures on Thursday and more than 175 on Friday at Delhi airport, the first source said. Delhi airport handles 60-70 aircraft movements per hour. Data from Flightradar24 showed the average departure delay was 60 minutes on Friday evening.
The malfunction also hit several international airlines, with an ITA Airways flight to Rome delayed by nearly two hours and a Virgin Atlantic flight to London by more than an hour.
Delhi airport handled about 78 million passengers in 2024, making it the ninth busiest airport in the world, according to Airports Council International. The operator of the airport is majority owned by GMR Airports, while air traffic control is managed by the AAI.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
