Airlines across India experienced brief operational disruptions on Thursday morning after an interim outage of Navitaire, a widely used airline reservation and departure control system, affected carriers in the country as well as parts of Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
In India, all airlines using the system, except Air India, were impacted, according to an official aware of the matter. The disruption affected carriers including IndiGo, Air India Express, Akasa Air and SpiceJet between 6:45 a.m. and 7:28 a.m., and again intermittently from 8:10 a.m. to 8:25 a.m.
Check-In Delays at IGIA
The outage led to temporary slowdowns in check-in and boarding procedures at several airports, including Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). Passenger processing systems at airport counters were affected, resulting in longer queues during the busy morning departure window.
Navitaire, owned by Amadeus, provides reservation, inventory and departure control systems to low-cost and hybrid airlines worldwide. Officials said airlines switched to manual and backup processes during the glitch to minimise disruption.
“There was a temporary slowdown in passenger processing due to a global system issue. The situation was brought under control and operations are normalising,” an airport official said. While some flights reported minor delays, there were no immediate cancellations linked to the outage.
AI Summit Adds to Congestion
The disruption coincided with heightened activity in the national capital due to the ongoing Artificial Intelligence Summit 2026. Several high-profile delegates arrived in Delhi, adding to operational pressure at airport terminals.
“Multiple VIP movements added to operational pressure at terminals already managing early morning departures. A NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) was also in place due to the VIP movements, adding to the congestion,” another official said.
A NOTAM currently in effect imposes temporary flight restrictions in and around Delhi from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The restrictions apply to IGIA and all airports within a 300-kilometre radius of Delhi under the Delhi Flight Information Region (FIR).
Under the advisory, flights are not permitted to take off or land at IGIA or subsidiary airfields within the specified radius during certain time windows, except for scheduled commercial services, pre-cleared summit-related VIP flights, and designated defence and emergency operations.
