The Delhi Airport System Crash that disrupted 900 flights has triggered a high-level forensic investigation into a suspected cyber attack or external interference. Learn why experts warned about the obsolete AMSS system and the urgent need for aviation infrastructure modernization.
Forensic Probe into Delhi Airport System Crash
The operational backbone of India’s busiest aviation hub, the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) in Delhi, was paralyzed last week, resulting in the chaos of nearly 900 flights disrupted over a harrowing 28-hour period. While initial reports cited a mere technical snag, the gravity of the incident—which halted the crucial flow of air traffic data—has escalated rapidly. The government has now officially ordered a high-stakes forensic investigation to determine if the failure was a technical breakdown or the result of a deliberate act of external interference or a sophisticated cyber attack.
The crisis began on the afternoon of November 6 and persisted into the morning of November 7, throwing the air travel schedule across the nation into disarray. The core component that failed was the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), a digital nerve centre responsible for automatically distributing critical flight plan data to air traffic controllers.
This wasn’t simply a case of a flickering screen. Aviation experts, particularly engineers from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) itself, have pointed to a more systemic and long-standing vulnerability. Their internal assessment reportedly emphasized that the incident was a “technology failure, not manpower shortage,” squarely blaming the obsolete infrastructure. The AMSS, they noted, lacks the necessary redundancy and modern capability required for a major hub handling over 1,500 daily flight movements.
