Delhi airport's air traffic control faces tech issues; nearly 300 flights delayed

Hundreds of passengers were facing a tough time at the Delhi airport on Friday as nearly 300 flights were delayed due to technical problems with the air traffic control system and authorities are working to fix the issues, sources said.

IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet and Akasa Air said there are delays in their flights at the Delhi airport due to the issues with the air traffic control system.

The national capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), the country's busiest airport, handles more than 1,500 flight movements daily. Airports Authority of India (AAI) said flight operations at the Delhi airport are facing delays due to a technical issue in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), which supports air traffic control data.

The state-owned AAI, which provides air traffic control and navigation services, said technical teams are working to restore the system at the earliest. "We regret the disruption being experienced at IGIA due to a technical issue at ATC that is affecting flight operations. This matter is being addressed on priority with close coordination among ATC, DIAL, and other stakeholders," Delhi airport operator DIAL said in a post on X.

According to the sources, there were long queues near boarding gates and hundreds of passengers were waiting inside the airport terminals for flight updates. The sources said air traffic controllers are unable to get flight plans automatically due to the technical issues since Thursday evening. There are some issues with the AMSS that provides the information for the Auto Track System (AMS), which gives the flight plans, one of the sources said.

With the system issues continuing, air traffic controllers are preparing the flight plans manually with available data, which is a time-consuming process and as a result, many flights are getting delayed, the sources said. They also said the issues are also causing air traffic congestion at the airport and authorities are working to fix the problems.

Information available on flight tracking website Flightradar24.com showed that nearly 300 flights have been delayed at the airport and the delay for departing flights is around 60 minutes at the Delhi airport.

"Due to an ongoing technical issue with the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS) that supports Air Traffic Control data, flights across all airlines at #DelhiAirport and some other airports in the northern region are currently experiencing delays," IndiGo said in a post on X.