Airlines across India experienced brief but widespread operational disruptions on Thursday morning after a technical outage hit Navitaire, a reservation and departure control system used by several carriers.
The glitch, which began around 0645 IST at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, affected check-in and boarding processes and was largely resolved within 45 minutes, with full restoration of some systems reported by around 0825 IST, multiple executives aware of the disruption told Fe.
“The outage disrupted operations for IndiGo, Akasa Air, Air India Express, and SpiceJet, while Air India was not affected,” a senior executive from Delhi International Airport told Fe.
Peak Hour Chaos
He added that the disruption coincided with heavy traffic in Delhi linked to the AI Impact Summit and related VIP movements, adding to congestion at Delhi airport.
Airports in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru reported long queues as airline staff switched to manual processing of passenger details during the morning peak. Around 30-35 flights were delayed due to the technical glitch at Delhi airport, another 25 flights were delayed at Mumbai airport, and around 25 flights were held up at Bengaluru airport, but no flights were cancelled, airport executives told Fe.
Passengers reported crowded check-in halls, slow-moving lines, and confusion over flight status as systems went offline. Social media posts described congestion at security and boarding gates, with images and comments highlighting the contrast between on-time display boards and the reality of passengers still waiting to be processed.
Single Point of Failure
Navitaire, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amadeus IT Group, provides passenger service systems for more than 60 airlines worldwide, covering reservations, e-commerce, check-in, departure control, and ancillary sales. In India, airlines such as IndiGo, Akasa Air, Air India Express, and SpiceJet use Navitaire to run their booking engines and day-of-travel operations.
In earlier guidance issued during a global Navitaire failure in 2024, Airports of Thailand said a “service outage at the Navitaire Host Data Center” could prevent airlines from checking in passengers and making reservations across all affected airports, underlining how a single platform issue can ripple through multiple networks.