New Delhi, July 20, 2024 – The Ministry of Civil Aviation has announced that flight operations are returning to normal and systems are back online across all airports following a global Microsoft outage that led to flight cancellations and disruptions.
In a statement issued today, the Ministry confirmed that all issues related to travel adjustments and refund processes are being addressed. “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 Ministry said.
Despite the overall improvement, the IGI Airport in Delhi faced significant disruptions this morning as the Digi Yatra system, a biometric-based boarding system, remained non-operational. Long queues formed at departure terminals as passengers checked in manually. Additional staff were deployed to manage congestion and assist travellers.
From 6-7 am, the system continued to experience glitches issuing boarding passes. However, the situation improved later in the day. Most flights managed to stay on schedule, with the waiting period at Terminal 3 departures averaging around 3 to 5 minutes, a marked improvement from Friday when the global outage led to widespread delays.
The global IT outage affected airline operations worldwide, highlighting the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to software issues. Airports and airlines, which rely heavily on Windows-based systems for check-ins, baggage handling, and security clearances, were significantly impacted. The disruption at IGI Airport forced a return to manual processes, slowing down operations and straining staff and resources.
