Delhi airport technical issue resolved after 800 flight delays, operations to normalise soon
The Indira Gandhi International Airport issued an official statement on Friday evening stating that the technical issue in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), responsible for managing aircraft by the Air Traffic Control (ATC), has been resolved.
The Air Traffic Control technical glitch at the Delhi airport has been resolved after almost 48 hours of disruptions, which affected more than 800 flights at one of the country's busiest airports.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) issued a statement on Friday evening stating that the technical issue in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), responsible for managing aircraft by the Air Traffic Control (ATC), has been resolved after a multi-agency team visited the site and carried out key review works.
"The issue was detected on November 6, 2025, in the IP-based AMSS system. Immediately, the review meeting was conducted by the Secretary, MoCA, with Chairman AAI, Member ANS, and other officials, and necessary directions were given to address the issues," it said.
"The original equipment manufacturer was engaged, and additional staff were deployed to manually process Flight Plans for the Air Traffic Control system to ensure uninterrupted and safe air traffic operations immediately," it added.
What happened to Delhi airport?
The country's busiest, experienced major disruption on Friday as technical issues in the air traffic control system led to delays in more than 300 domestic and international flights, according to sources.
All airline operations at the airport were affected, and efforts are underway to resolve the problem. IndiGo, Air India, Air India Express, SpiceJet and Akasa Air confirmed delays in their services due to the ongoing issue in the air traffic control system. Indira Gandhi International Airport handles over 1,500 flight movements each day.
AMSS now functional, flight ops to be normal soon
The AAI said officials are present on the site and the AMSS has now been made functional, but due to backlogs flight schedules, delays will persist for some time and flight operations will return to normal soon.
"The AMSS systems are up and functional now. Due to some backlogs, there may be some delays in the normal functioning of automated operations, but the situation will be normal soon," the statement read.
What is AMSS and what is its use in flight operations
The AMSS is a core communication and data management system used in airports to support Air Traffic Control operations. It receives, processes and distributes flight-related messages such as flight plans, weather reports and aircraft movement notifications. These messages are shared between airlines, airport authorities, air traffic controllers and other aviation networks. The system ensures that all relevant teams have access to accurate and updated information in real time.
At airports, AMSS helps maintain smooth and organised air traffic by automatically updating flight plans and routing important messages to the correct destinations. When AMSS functions properly, it reduces manual workload for air traffic controllers and lowers the chances of error in busy airspace environments. However, if AMSS faces a technical glitch, these processes may need to be handled manually, which slows down communication and can lead to flight delays and operational disruption.