Delhi Airport witnessed massive flight delays after a sudden technical glitch in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system disrupted operations on Friday. Several domestic and international flights were grounded, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded for hours. The DGCA ordered an urgent probe into the ATC failure as airlines issued fresh advisories and rescheduled flights.
Delhi Airport Flight Delays
A technical failure in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) systems at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), which began late Thursday evening, caused widespread delays across the Delhi airport on Friday morning. The fault affected the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS) — the communications network that feeds data to the Auto Track System (ATS) used to generate automated flight plans — forcing controllers to prepare plans manually. The manual workaround slowed operations and led to more than 100 delayed departures and arrivals.
India’s busiest airport handles roughly 1,500 flight movements a day; even a short disruption of the AMSS can therefore cascade rapidly into large-scale congestion. By mid-morning, flight-tracking data showed average departure delays of 45–50 minutes, and airlines warned that the backlog could take several hours to clear. Airport teams and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) worked through the morning to restore automated systems while controllers carried out manual planning to keep flights moving as safely as possible.
Major carriers including IndiGo, SpiceJet and Air India posted advisories to customers asking them to expect delays; ground staff at IGIA were assisting stranded passengers with re-booking and information. On the tarmac and in terminal areas, passengers reported long queues, repeated rescheduling announcements and extended wait times onboard aircraft awaiting clearance. The disruption also produced knock-on effects at nearby airports — officials warned that Lucknow, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Amritsar could see ripple delays as the schedule adjusted.
