A glitch in the automatic massage switching system (AMSS), which supports ATC data and flight plan processing, forced controllers to handle flight plans manually, causing delays and cancellations of nearly 500 flights. Arrivals were not affected and the issue was resolved late on Friday night.
New Delhi: The Delhi airport witnessed major disruptions on Friday after a software failure in the air traffic control (ATC) system brought operations to a standstill. A glitch in the automatic massage switching system (AMSS), which supports ATC data and flight plan processing, forced controllers to handle flight plans manually, causing delays and cancellations of nearly 800 flights. Arrivals were not affected and the issue was resolved late on Friday night.
At the Shamshabad airport, 11 arrivals and 10 departures at Hyderabad were affected. The delays began with IndiGo flight 6E 6621 at 7.33 am.
In a statement, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) confirmed that the AMSS malfunction was detected on November 6, in its IP-based system at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport. “The issue caused delays in processing flight plan messages. A review meeting chaired by the civil aviation secretary, with the AAI chairman and senior officials, was held immediately, and necessary directions were issued,” AAI said.
The AAI added that the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) was engaged, and additional staff were deployed to manually process flight plans to ensure safe and uninterrupted operations. “The AMSS system is now up and functional. Due to backlogs, there may be minor delays, but normal operations will resume soon. We regret the inconvenience caused to airlines and passengers,” the statement said.
Every aircraft must submit a flight plan before takeoff. The AMSS provides these details to the auto track system (ATS), which facilitates flight tracking. Due to the glitch, controllers manually prepared flight plans using available data, a time-consuming process that led to air traffic congestion and departure delays.
The glitch also affected meteorological data integration, as weather information from across the country, typically available through the automatic terminal information system (ATIS), had to be handled manually.
The IGI airport, India’s busiest airport, handles over 1,500 flight movements daily. No complaint was filed with the Delhi Police Cyber Cell, as officials ruled out any cyberattack. Sources said engineers worked overnight to fix the technical problem, which reportedly began on Thursday.
