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Frustrated passengers, missed journeys: Stranded flyers in Delhi lament flight delays
At 1pm, according to Flight Radar, a live flight tracker app, 313 departures and 118 arrivals were impacted by the glitch
With over 300 flights delayed – some by over 12 hours – at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport on Friday, due to a technical glitch in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system, thousands of passengers are stranded, with some spending hours inside the airport, while others awaiting updates from airlines before they leave their homes.
At 1pm, according to Flight Radar, a live flight tracker app, 313 departures and 118 arrivals were impacted by the glitch. The issue is yet to be resolved.
See latest updates on flight delays in Mumbai, Delhi here
At 8am, 55-year-old Mahinder Pal reached the airport from his residence in Amritsar with his son and his three friends who are moving to Dubai for work.
“My son and three others from our village are flying to Dubai to start their job. The flight was supposed to take off at 4pm, but then we got to know from our agent that it had been delayed. Since we didn’t know how long the delay was initially, we reached the airport anyway so that my son wouldn’t miss the flight. We have now been informed that his flight will only take off at 10am tomorrow,” said Pal, seated outside the airport, unsure of what to do next or how his son will explain to his new work place why he will be late on day one.
Ranvir Singh, 34, accompanied Pal from Amritsar to drop off a cousin who too is headed to Dubai for work. “We are supposed to take the train back to Amritsar today but now we can’t… We can’t leave the children here waiting all alone. We will have to spend more money here to stay the night. The food at the airport is so expensive, we can’t afford it. So, we have been starving since 8am,” said Singh.
In another corner of the airport, 25-year-old Jal, a student from Rajasthan, paced from one end to another, refreshing the website on his phone to see if there’s an update about the arrival status of an Air India flight from Saudi Arabia.
“I am here to pick up a friend who was supposed to land at 1:35pm but that flight has still not landed. No one seems to know when it will reach. We were supposed to head back to our hometown via a train today but now we will miss that train too. Who will foot these losses?” he asked.
Meanwhile, officials said a malfunction in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), which feeds crucial flight plan data to the Auto Track System (ATS) has led to disruption.
“Flight operations at Delhi Airport are experiencing delays due to a technical issue in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), which supports Air Traffic Control data. Controllers are processing flight plans manually, leading to some delays. Technical teams are working to restore the system at the earliest. We appreciate the understanding and cooperation of all passengers and stakeholders,” a statement from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said.
An official told HT that the issue began on Thursday afternoon at around 3pm.
“Since the ATCOs (air traffic controllers) have not received flight plans automatically on their screens, controllers are now preparing flight plans manually using available data, a process that is slowing down operations and contributing to congestion at the airport,” said the official, while another official aware of the matter said “such a glitch is uncommon and has not happened earlier.”
Many passengers took to social media apps such as X and Facebook to express their frustration over the delays, and the early morning chaos at the airport.
One X user lamented, “It is a nightmare to be sitting in an aircraft for 2 hours due to massive signal failure. 90 flights are queued up and there is no clarity when we will take off. There could be failures but why can’t you inform passengers before boarding,” while actor-musician Daniel Weber posted on X, “Hello @DelhiAirport how about you allow flights to get to the parking gate? We are sitting on the runway for 30 min with no gate. Seems like a basic thing you can manage!”
Meanwhile the IT ministry ruled out the possibility of a cyber attack behind the massive disruption. An official, who asked not to be named, told HT, “There is supposed to be an automatic update of flight plans that stopped functioning. It is not a cyber attack.
At the airport, many await reliable information from authorities on delays.
Kaman Bansal, 28, en route to UAE, said, “Though my flight has been delayed only by an hour, I am waiting to hear if there is any further delay. As of now, there is no new information.”
Gautam Kocher, 55, stood at the airport with a bouquet of roses as he waited for his daughter’s flight to arrive – which had been delayed by over an hour. “I don’t mind waiting. I heard some flights are delayed by six-eight hours, so I am lucky that this is a short delay… But there is no space to sit here. The airport should make adequate arrangements for people to sit on such days,” he said.
