Air Traffic Snarl: Delays Hinder Delhi Airport Operations

Delhi airport experienced significant disruptions with over 200 flight delays due to a technical failure in the air traffic control messaging system. This issue, which required manual development of flight plans, affected major airlines and could impact other airports nationwide.

Over 200 flights faced delays at Delhi airport, one of the globe's busiest, following a technical glitch in its air traffic control messaging system, according to India's airport authority and a source familiar with the incident, reported on Friday.

The malfunction postponed flight departures by over 30 minutes, threatening potential logjams at other national airports. IndiGo's shares declined 1.5% after the airline acknowledged impacted operations. Similarly, SpiceJet and Air India cautioned their passengers about possible delays.

The Airports Authority of India identified the issue in the Automatic Message Switching System, essential for generating flight plans, causing controllers to resort to manual planning. Technical teams are striving to restore the system promptly. Concurrently, authorities are investigating whether computer malware might be responsible for the issue.

(With inputs from agencies.)