ATC system glitch at Delhi fixed; snag had delayed over 500 flights, Pg12

Key Highlights:

• Over 500 flights were delayed at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) in Delhi due to an Air Traffic Control (ATC) system glitch on Friday.
• Between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m., 383 departures and 163 arrivals at IGI were delayed by more than 45 minutes.
• The Airports Authority of India (AAI) reported a technical issue in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS).
• The AMSS, which contains flight plans and weather data, was procured from the Spanish company Indra.

Detailed Insights:

• The ATC system failure forced air traffic controllers to manually process flight plans, causing significant delays.
• The glitch primarily impacted departures initially, but later affected arrivals due to parking space constraints.
• The disruption had a ripple effect across other airports in India, including Mumbai, due to delayed departures from Delhi.
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation clarified that the issue was not a cyber attack but occurred during an update to the AMSS.
• The Delhi-Mumbai route, being the busiest in the country, experienced at least 121 delayed departures and arrivals at Mumbai airport.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Air Traffic Control (ATC): A service provided to promote the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic.
• Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS): A system that supports Air Traffic Control data, including flight plans and weather information.
• Airports Authority of India (AAI): The organization responsible for managing air traffic and airports across India.