6 months ago
2
The communicative truthful far: Air postulation operations astatine New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport were affected connected November 6, aft the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS) experienced a method issue. It took implicit 24 hours for it to beryllium restored. The Civil Aviation Ministry is reported to person asked the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to upgrade the system.
Also Read | ATC strategy glitch astatine Delhi fixed; snag had delayed implicit 500 flights
What was the contented successful Delhi?
The Air Traffic Controllers’ Guild (India) raised its concerns, highlighting however the disruption forced Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) to manually grip implicit 2,500 regular craft movements, including much than 1,500 scheduled flights and 1,000 craft overflying Indian airspace. An aviation root who is intimately associated with Air Traffic Control (ATC) told The Hindu that the automation systems utilized by ATCOs deduce the information from the Flight Data Processing System (FDPS), which successful crook is fed by the AMSS. When the AMSS experienced failure, the automation systems did not get the required data, including formation plans. Yogendra Gautam, CCM, Air Traffic Safety Electronics Personnel Association (ATSEPA) India, has told The Hindu that the AMSS is simply a halfway connection backbone for aerial postulation operations, utilized successful each the large ATC centres including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, to grip aeronautical messages. These see formation plans, departure and accomplishment messages, hold and cancellation messages, meteorological and NOTAM updates and coordination messages betwixt ATCs and airlines. Essentially, it receives, stores and forwards these messages automatically done the Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunication Network and Aeronautical Message Handling System (AMHS) links.
It works utilizing input sources, from airlines, ATC centres, meteorological offices, and AAI stations, which nonstop integer formation oregon operational messages. The AMSS besides converts assorted formats into a unified format. There is simply a routing logic, wherever the strategy decides wherever each connection indispensable go, whether to the ATC operation oregon different airports. Messages are temporarily stored successful a cardinal database and tin beryllium retrieved successful lawsuit of transmission delays. The authoritative said that the AMSS runs 24X7, processing thousands of flight-related messages.
Technical and procedural issues tin trigger AMSS failure. Delhi’s AMSS, which was supplied by a Spanish organisation, is built connected an older server architecture with bequest message-switching bundle — determination person been patches and upgrades. The strategy has immoderate India-made content. Database oregon server overload, particularly during highest hours, tin origin delays oregon nonaccomplishment of communication. Other reasons see inadequate synchronisation betwixt standby systems starring to connection blackout periods, and integration issues with different systems. As the AMSS interfaces with aerial postulation work automation, aeronautical accusation work and web routers, immoderate web responsibility oregon delayed interface effect tin choke the AMSS connection flow. The authoritative said determination is besides constricted section method manpower trained connected this bequest system. In Delhi, the glitch was reportedly owed to a synchronisation nonaccomplishment betwixt the superior and standby servers, compounded by delayed switch-over and corrupted connection queues. The effect was an inability to transmit/receive formation plans and NOTAMs, helium said, adding that a migration to a modern, cloud-supported AMHS/ATS integrated strategy is agelong overdue.
Also Read | Delhi IGI airdrome ATC glitch has ripple effect, 21 flights delayed astatine Hyderabad airport
How engaged is Delhi airport?
In 2024, nether the ‘total passengers’ category, IGI Airport was ranked ninth among the world’s busiest airports, handling 77.8 cardinal passengers, according to the Airports Council International (ACI) World list. It was ranked 15, for its 4,77,509 craft movements. The ACI represents implicit 2,181 airports crossed 170 countries. Due to the glitch, implicit 500 flights were affected and respective cancelled.
Also Read | Airlines study ‘severe’ GPS spoofing implicit Delhi for 7 days
What has the parliamentary study said?
In its ‘Three Hundred Eightieth Report – Overall Review of Safety successful the Civil Aviation Sector’ (presented to the Rajya Sabha connected August 20, 2025), the Parliamentary Standing Committee connected Transport, Tourism and Culture observed that “existing automation systems utilized for aerial postulation control, peculiarly astatine high-density airports specified arsenic Delhi and Mumbai, person begun to grounds important show degradation. This includes issues of strategy slowness, information processing lags, and a deficiency of modern decision-support features”. It adds: “The existing Indian ATC systems deficiency galore of the advanced, integrated capabilities that are present modular successful modern aerial postulation absorption systems utilized by planetary counterparts similar Eurocontrol oregon the FAA. These missing features see sophisticated, AI-enabled struggle detection and alerting tools, predictive analytics for postulation travel management, and seamless, real-time information sharing capabilities betwixt antithetic power units and with aircraft.” This deficit, it said, places an tremendous further cognitive strain connected already-overworked ATCOs, who are forced to manually compensate for the system’s shortcomings. This “increases the hazard of quality mistake and limits the wide capableness of the airspace”.
Also Read | Flight operations astatine Delhi airdrome returns to normal, says DIAL
How is it successful Europe for instance?
Professor Marina Efthymiou, Professor of Aviation Management, Business School, Dublin City University, Ireland, has told The Hindu that Europe’s Air Traffic Management (ATM) system, coordinated done Eurocontrol and implemented done nationalist aerial navigation work providers, operates connected a analyzable web of bequest and modernised systems that indispensable seamlessly integrate nether the Single European Sky framework. While initiatives specified arsenic SESAR (the technological pillar of the Single European Sky) purpose to digitalise and harmonise ATM crossed Europe, the coexistence of outdated radar systems, fragmented connection protocols, and inconsistent data-sharing platforms continues to exposure vulnerabilities to method glitches and cyber threats. There person been disruptions, specified arsenic strategy outages successful formation information processing oregon connection networks, highlighting the fragility of Europe’s existent ATM infrastructure and the request for resilient, cloud-based and AI-driven coordination tools to guarantee continuity. And a increasing shortage of qualified ATCOs compounds these method risks.
The aboriginal of aerial navigation successful Europe is apt to trust connected satellite-based navigation (GNSS) and automation-enhanced postulation prediction, but these advances volition necessitate robust cybersecurity frameworks and redundancy systems to mitigate the hazard of information corruption oregon awesome interference, she said.
Also Read | A twelve flights to and from KIA delayed owed to ATC glitch successful Delhi airport
Are determination plans to upgrade?
In February 2025, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Murlidhar Mohol, listed a bid of initiatives being undertaken by the AAI successful aerial postulation and aerial navigation management. These see the installation of a caller pan-India AMHS to regenerate the existing AMHS and AMSS systems and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast crushed stations astatine 21 airports which utilise GPS and satellites for determining craft positions. Their installation astatine 15 different locations has been completed.
In a elaborate enactment (updated August 29, 2025), the AAI has said that it has drawn up plans to upgrade the ATM infrastructure successful presumption of automation systems and exertion upgrades, which besides impact shifting from ground-based to satellite-based navigation.
