New Delhi|July,20 : The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Saturday said that flight operations were smooth and airline systems were back to normal across all airports a day after a global Microsoft outage led to flight cancellations and chaotic scenes at check-in counters. In a statement, the ministry said all issues related to travel adjustments and refund processes were being taken care of.
“Since 3 am, airline systems across airports have started working normally. Flight operations are going smoothly now. There is a backlog because of disruptions yesterday, and it is getting cleared gradually. By noon today, we expect all issues to be resolved,” the Aviation Ministry said.
However, the IGI Airport in Delhi faced significant disruptions on Saturday morning as the Digi Yatra system, a biometric-based boarding system, remained non-operational. Long queues were observed at the departure terminals as passengers struggled to check in manually. Airport authorities have deployed additional staff to assist travellers and manage the congestion. Between 6-7 am today, the system continued to experience glitches while issuing boarding passes. However, the scenario improved later in the day.
In contrast to the chaos, most flights managed to stay on schedule, with the waiting period at Terminal 3 departures averaging around 3 to 5 minutes. The situation marked a significant improvement from Friday when the global outage led to widespread delays. The global IT outage had far-reaching effects, disrupting airline operations worldwide. Airports and airlines rely heavily on Windows-based systems for a variety of functions, including check-ins, baggage handling, and security clearances. The outage highlighted the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to software issues. At IGI Airport, the impact was immediate and severe. The disruption of Digi Yatra forced a return to manual processes. This not only slowed down operations but also increased the strain on airport staff and resources. The impact of the outage of Microsoft 365 and Azure services saw hundreds of flights, including those by Indigo, Air India, SpiceJet and Akasa Air, getting delayed and several were cancelled as airline operators switched to manual processes. At the Delhi airport, more than 400 flights faced delays. Several passengers took to social media to post images of handwritten boarding passes.
