Passengers at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here had a harrowing time on Tuesday evening after a technical glitch at the air traffic control delayed over 70 flights.
Most flights got delayed by 15 minutes to three hours on Tuesday between 7.30 p.m. and 10 p.m. While both departures and arrivals were affected due to the technical glitch, domestic arrivals were the worst hit, with 35 flights getting affected.
The Delhi airport is the country’s busiest and handles nearly 950 flight each day. Even a slight glitch in the technical system managing the air traffic as a result leads to major pile ups.
“There was an automation issue with the air traffic control system at the airport and air traffic controllers had to resort to manual mode at one point of time, which resulted in the delays,” said a source at the airport.
No official statement from the Air Traffic Control, managed by the Airports Authority of India, was available.
“Our flight to Kolkata was scheduled to take off at 8.15 p.m., but we are still at the airport at 10 p.m. Many passengers have been sitting in the aircraft for the past two hours. This is harassment of passengers and the airline has not even informed us about the reason behind the delay or when exactly the flight would operate,” said a passenger.
Passengers of Delhi-bound flights had a tougher time as they were kept in the aircraft at the airports from where they were flying to the National Capital. Many flights kept hovering over the Delhi air space, waiting for permission to land.
The Delhi airport is no stranger to technical glitches at the Air Traffic Control, which has on many occasions in the past few years witnessed system blackouts and radar failures.
