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New Delhi: The Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) Guild of India has claimed that Friday’s system failure at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport could have been prevented had earlier warnings been heeded. According to the guild, air traffic controllers had flagged issues and sought system upgrades from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) as far back as July. However, their suggestions were allegedly ignored.
The organisation said it had also written to Members of Parliament on July 8, shortly after the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad that killed 260 people, stressing that “it is essential that the automation systems used in air navigation services are reviewed and upgraded periodically.”
The guild urged that India’s automation system be modernised to match international benchmarks such as Europe’s Eurocontrol and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). They said air traffic controls in these regions use advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) for threat detection and real-time data sharing.
The ATC Guild further said that it had repeatedly brought these “serious security issues” to the AAI’s attention but “no concrete action has been taken.” The server at Delhi’s Air Traffic Control malfunctioned on Friday, with a technical glitch in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS) disrupting air traffic management. The failure delayed and cancelled over 800 flights, also affecting some international routes.
The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said that flight operations have returned to normal since Friday afternoon, though passengers were advised to check with their respective airlines for updated schedules. “Airline operations at Delhi Airport are returning to normal, and all concerned authorities are working diligently to minimise any inconvenience caused,” DIAL said earlier on X, noting that the situation was gradually improving.
The Indira Gandhi International Airport, which operates four runways and handles over 1,500 flights daily, witnessed major disruptions due to the incident. The AAI later confirmed that it had resolved “the technical issue in the AMSS, which caused delays in processing flight plan messages.”
