Could technical snag at Delhi airport have been prevented? Report claims air traffic controllers flagged issue in July

After a major technical snag at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, an air traffic controllers’ organisation reportedly said that the system failure incident could have been prevented. This comes after operations were severely affected at the Delhi Airport on Friday (Nov 7), resulting in more than 800 flights being delayed. Reports suggest that the ATC Guild of India said air traffic controllers raised concerns, pointing out the need for upgrades at the airport to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in July.

According to an NDTV report, the suggestions made by the guild were not acted upon. It also added that air traffic controllers wrote to MPs on July 8 after the deadly Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad that killed 260. They stressed that “it is essential that the automation systems used in air navigation services are reviewed and upgraded periodically,” as quoted by the outlet. The system should be upgraded to international standards, they stated.

The guild added in the letter that India’s automation system should be like Europe’s Eurocontrol and the US’ Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). They highlighted that air traffic controls in these countries have modern technology and threat identification with artificial intelligence (AI) and real-time data sharing. They said that these security issues with the AAI have been raised several times, but no action has been taken.

On Friday (Nov 7), hundreds of flights at the Delhi airport were delayed after a technical issue in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS) resulted in the disruption of operations at the airport, which handles more than 1,500 flights daily. The AAI said in a statement, “AAI at Indira Gandhi International Airport addressed a technical issue in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), which caused delays in processing flight plan messages. The issue was detected on November 6, 2025, in the IP-based AMSS system.”

The statement added that a review meeting was conducted immediately by the Secretary, MoCA, with Chairman AAI, Member ANS, and other officials. Necessary directions were given to address the issue.

It further added, “The OEM was engaged, and additional staff were deployed to manually process Flight Plans for the Air Traffic Control system to ensure uninterrupted and safe air traffic operations immediately.”

“A team of ECIL officials and AAI personnel is still on site. The AMSS systems are up and functional now. Due to some backlogs, there may be some delays in the normal functioning of automated operations, but the situation will be normal soon,” AAI said on Friday evening.