The civil aviation ministry acknowledges the software-related disruption in Air Traffic Control (ATC) operations at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport earlier in November that caused widespread delays, affecting hundreds of flights over a two-day period.
The minister of state for civil aviation Murlidhar Mohol in a response to an unstarred question raised by multiple MPs said that high latency in processing and delivering Air Traffic Service (ATS) messages was observed on November 6 at around 11 am.
This issue impacted the Air Traffic Management Automation System (ATMAS), delaying critical Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunication Network (AFTN) messages, including flight plans, mandatory Flight Information Centre numbers, and Air Defence Clearances.
While around 800 flight delays were reported at the time of the incident, the minister informed that 397 scheduled passenger departures between November 6 and 8 were delayed.
Upgrades Ordered to Prevent Recurrence
The centre also informed that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has begun replacing the existing IP-based Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS) with a new Air Traffic Services Message Handling System (AMHS) to enhance operational reliability.
On the matter of financial losses to airlines, the minister stated that carriers incur additional expenditure during any operational disruption, whether caused by weather, congestion, or technical failures, and therefore losses linked to a single factor cannot be precisely quantified.
The AAI has also been instructed to carry out a comprehensive audit of all Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) equipment across airports to assess their condition, reliability and lifecycle requirements.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) conducted its own inspection of the AMSS system linked to the glitch. Following the review, the regulator mandated the replacement of existing database servers with new upgraded versions to bolster system performance and resilience.
