‘Warned, no one listened…’, claims ATC, big revelation on Delhi Airport’s system glitch

Air traffic controllers could have prevented the major system failure that occurred on Friday at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. The ATC Guild of India says that they had warned the Airport Authority of India (AAI) in July itself about the flaws in the system and the need for upgrades, but it was not heeded.

Warning was given in July
The ATC Guild says that they had given written information to AAI in July about the need for system upgrade. He alleges that despite repeated requests, no concrete action was taken on his suggestions.

Letter written to MPs after Ahmedabad accident
The Guild said that on July 8, they had also written a letter to the MPs. This letter was sent after the accident of Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner in Ahmedabad, in which 260 people died. It was said in the letter that it is very important to review and upgrade the air navigation system from time to time.

ATC Guild wants a system like international standards
ATC Guild says that India’s automation system should be like Europe’s Eurocontrol and America’s FAA. The air traffic control system there has features like modern technology, AI-based threat identification and real-time data sharing.

Security concerns raised several times
The guild alleges that they informed AAI several times about serious security concerns, but no concrete action has been taken till now. On Friday, there was a technical glitch in the air traffic control server of Delhi Airport. The glitch in AMSS (Automatic Message Switching System) disrupted flight messaging and affected more than 800 flights.

Flights were affected for several hours
After the AMSS system failure, many flights were delayed and many had to be cancelled. Its impact reached international flights. Delhi airport operator DIAL said that flight operations became normal in the afternoon, but passengers have been advised to keep in touch with their airlines. At the same time, AAI said that the technical glitch in AMSS has been fixed, due to which there was a delay in processing of flight plan messages.