Major Technical Failure at Delhi Airport Sends Ripples Across Indian Aviation
A significant technical malfunction at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport on Friday, November 7, 2025, triggered widespread flight disruptions across India, affecting operations at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and approximately 300 flight operations nationwide.
Cascading Effects Hit Mumbai Operations
The crisis began early Friday when a technical glitch in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS) at Delhi's Air Traffic Control disrupted flight planning data. This critical system supports Air Traffic Control flight planning operations, and its failure created immediate challenges for air traffic management across northern India.
Sources from Mumbai Airport confirmed that the disruptions originating from Delhi had significantly impacted arrivals at CSMIA. With the technical issue persisting for several hours, the delays created a domino effect that spread to airports across the country, including Mumbai, where multiple flight services experienced substantial disruptions.
Airlines Confirm Widespread Delays
Spokespersons from several airline services officially confirmed that their flight operations were affected by the technical failure. The bunching of flights and delayed arrivals created operational challenges that rippled through the national aviation network.
"Flights move in multiple sectors. So when a flight coming in from Delhi is delayed, it is bound to have a cascading effect and impact operations everywhere," revealed a source familiar with the developments. "Owing to the impact in Delhi, the arrivals were delayed in Mumbai as well but they were managed. Owing to flight rotations and redirections, the impact was controlled in Mumbai."
Airport Advisory and Subsequent Retraction
In response to the growing disruptions, Mumbai airport issued an advisory on Friday evening acknowledging that flight operations had been affected by the technical issue impacting Delhi's AMSS system. The statement indicated that concerned authorities were actively working to resolve the problem and advised passengers to contact their respective airlines for flight status updates and revised schedules.
However, in a curious turn of events, the authorities retracted the public advisory minutes later, stating that it was an internal communication that had been accidentally published publicly. Despite this retraction, multiple sources confirmed that flight service disruptions and the clustering of delayed flights had indeed impacted operations at various airports, including Mumbai, where arrivals were particularly affected.
The incident highlights the interconnected nature of India's aviation infrastructure and how technical failures at major hubs can create nationwide travel disruptions affecting thousands of passengers across the country's busiest airports.
