Check-In Disruptions At Delhi, Other Airports Due To Software Glitch

Airlines, including IndiGo, Air India Express, SpiceJet, and Akasa Air experienced temporary check-in disruptions at multiple airports, including Delhi and Mumbai, on Thursday morning following a technical issue with a global airline reservation platform.

According to sources, check-in systems were impacted from around 6:45 am to 7:28 am due to a glitch in Navitaire, a widely used airline technology software provider. 

The system helps airlines manage bookings, reservations, check-in services, and departure control operations. When such systems go offline, airlines are unable to process passengers efficiently, resulting in temporary slowdowns.

The disruption, which lasted for over 40 minutes, affected passenger processing at counters and kiosks, leading to some delays.

Sources familiar with the matter said the outage initially affected carriers in the Asia-Pacific region before impacting some airlines in Europe. However, systems were restored within about half an hour, and operations gradually returned to normal. While there were minor delays during the affected period, no major flight disruptions were reported.

Airport operations stabilised soon after the technical issue was resolved. There was no official statement from the airlines at the time of reporting.

In November last year, nearly 800 flights were delayed at Delhi airport, India's busiest, after a major technical glitch hit its Air Traffic Control (ATC) system, disrupting flight planning and causing a ripple effect across multiple airports.

The issue originated in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), a key system that supports the ATC's data network, forcing air traffic controllers to process flight plans manually. Officials described the situation as "unprecedented," saying such a glitch "has not happened earlier."

In a statement, the AAI had said that the glitch, detected on November 6 in the IP-based AMSS system, had caused delays in the processing of flight plan messages for the Air Traffic Control (ATC).