Union Civil Aviation Minister reviews on-ground situation at Delhi ATC towers after technical glitch

New Delhi [India], November 9 : Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, visited the Air Traffic Control (ATC) Tower at Delhi Airport on Saturday to review operations after the technical glitch in the ATC messaging system.
The Minister directed officials to conduct a detailed root-cause analysis and enhance system redundancy to make the ATC network more resilient for the future.
"Over the past two days, teams from AAI, ANS, and ECIL worked tirelessly to identify and resolve the issue while ensuring passenger safety through manual coordination. As systems are fully restored now, I have further directed officials to conduct a detailed root-cause analysis and enhance system redundancy to make our ATC network more resilient for the future, " Kinjarapu said in a post on X.
A technical glitch in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) messaging system at Delhi Airport occurred on Friday afternoon. The issue, which continued into Saturday morning, led to delays and cancellations of 46 flights.
From the onset, teams from the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Air Navigation Services (ANS), and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) worked around the clock to identify and rectify the issue. ECIL promptly deputed additional manpower to assist in the restoration process. During this period, ATC staff efficiently managed flight operations manually to ensure passenger safety and minimise inconvenience, according to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Late in the night on November 7, Union Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu visited the Delhi ANS Centre near the airport at 10 PM to review the situation. He was accompanied by Secretary (MoCA) Samir Kumar Sinha, Chairman (AAI) Vipin Kumar, and senior officials.
The Minister directed the ECIL CMD to deploy additional technical manpower to expedite the restoration efforts. To minimise passenger inconvenience, the Minister also directed that more ATC staff be deployed at Delhi Airport to support manual operations and ensure smooth handling of air traffic during the system downtime.
Owing to the coordinated efforts of ECIL engineers, ATC personnel, and the Ministry's proactive monitoring, the system was fully restored to automatic mode by the afternoon of November 8. There were no flight cancellations on Saturday owing to the issue.