Thousands of Air India passengers were stranded across the airline’s domestic and international network early on Saturday morning due to a server issue that lasted for six hours. The problem resulted in the airline not being able to check-in passengers and issue their boarding passes, which delayed 155 flights.
The problem occurred at 3 a.m. on Saturday when the server that had undergone maintenance could not be put back into operation due to a glitch, explained the airline’s Chairman and Managing Director (C&MD) Ashwani Lohani at a press conference. The problem was rectified at 8.45 a.m.
“Till 10 a.m., 85 flights were delayed. There will be a ripple effect on our flight operations throughout the day,” Mr. Lohani said.
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A spokesperson later said that 75 more flights would be impacted until 8.30 p.m. on Saturday. The Air India Group, which also includes subsidiaries Air India Express and Alliance Air, operates 674 flights daily.
Air India’s software solution is provided by SITA, a global airline IT services major, which provides Air India check-in and baggage tracking technology, among other services. Air India was the only airline affected by the server issue.
The CMD added that international flights would not see a delay of more than 10-15 minutes, but the real brunt would be borne by domestic flights. Passengers taking a connecting flight domestically before taking an international flight may have some difficulties, but the airline was providing free re-scheduling as well as hotel accommodation.
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As the crisis was unfolding for the airline, several passengers posted photos of overcrowded airports, such as those at Delhi and Mumbai, and shared their ordeal on social media.
“Systems have crashed and all flights are indefinitely delayed. Not a good thing in a market that’s already stretched for capacity,” tweeted actor Gul Panag on Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).
#AirIndia has got its servers down and we are stranded at #SydneyAirport. I’m in the queue since morning. It’s been more than 3 hours and still no updates. Disappointed,” tweeted Sumit Joshi.
“#AirIndia systems down globally since 3 am. Must be at least 2,000 people camped in #Mumbai T2 #Airport. And more people coming in with #flights scheduled every half hour. Nightmare truly!” R. Vasundara shared.
SITA said it would investigate the incident.
“SITA experienced a complex system issue during server maintenance early this morning, which resulted in operational disruption to Air India flights....We are undertaking a full investigation to understand the root cause and prevent a recurrence,” said Julius Baumann, SITA’s Senior Manager, Corporate Communications.