In India, all airlines except Air India that use the system were impacted in the morning, an official aware of the matter said.

Airlines across India faced brief operational disruptions on Thursday morning following an interim outage of Navitaire, a widely used airline reservation and departure control system, affecting multiple carriers in the country as well as parts of the Asia-Pacific and Europe regions.In India, all airlines except Air India that use the system were impacted in the morning, an official aware of the matter said.

“Due to the system outage IndiGo, Air India Express, Akasa Air and SpiceJet airlines were impacted between 6:45am and 7:28am, and again intermittently from 8:10am to 8:25am, leading to temporary delays in check-in and boarding processes at several airports including Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).

Navitaire, owned by Amadeus, provides reservation, inventory and departure control systems primarily to low-cost and hybrid carriers worldwide.

According to officials, the outage affected passenger processing systems, including airport check-in counters and boarding systems, resulting in longer queues during the morning peak travel period.IGIA was among the airports that experienced congestion, coinciding with heightened activity due to the arrival of several high-profile delegates for the ongoing AI Summit in the national Capital.

“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 aware of the development said.

Officials said operations continued manually during the disruption, with airlines switching to backup procedures to minimise delays.

“There was a temporary slowdown in passenger processing due to a global system issue. The situation was however brought under control and operations are normalising,” an airport official.

Some flights reported minor departure delays. “There were no immediate (flight) cancellations due to the outage,” he added.

To be sure, a Notice to Air Mission (NOTAM) is also in place in and around Delhi. It imposes temporary flight restrictions around Delhi due to the Artificial Intelligence Summit 2026 and applies to IGIA and all airports within a 300km radius of Delhi (within Delhi FIR), from 7:30am to 3pm.

According to the NOTAM seen by HT, no flights will be permitted to take off or land at IGIA or subsidiary airfields within a 300km radius during specified time windows, except scheduled commercial services, summit-related VIP flights cleared in advance, and designated defence and emergency operations.

It states that scheduled flights will be allowed to overfly the restricted zone at or above 29,000 feet, subject to climb and descent conditions, adding that Safdarjung airport will remain closed, barring limited security helicopter movements and that flights outside the exempted categories will require prior security clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

In December last year, a technical glitch caused by a "third-party system" disrupted check-ins at multiple airports and delayed flights of several airlines. Multiple airlines, including Air India, had issued advisories amid the disruption.

Hours later, the issue was fully resolved, with operations returning to normal across airports.

In November 2025, more than 400 domestic and international flights were delayed after a technical issue with the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS) disrupted operations at the IGIA.

Major airlines, including Air India, IndiGo, and SpiceJet, were experiencing disruptions, resulting in longer queues and slower operations. The technical issue was detected in the IP-based AMSS system, following which a review meeting was conducted by the Secretary, MoCA, with Chairman AAI, member ANS, and other officials, and necessary directions were given to address the issues.

The glitch had led to air traffic controllers (ATCs) manually preparing flight plans using available data, a time-consuming process that triggered the flight delays.

According to Navitaire's website, it also helps agents manage and monitor check-in and boarding processes more effectively.

Its tools can also handle re-accommodations during irregular operations by letting passengers rebook flights and choose new seats.

Navitaire's GoNow self-tagging feature allows passengers to print bag tags at home or at the airport, reducing airport check-in costs. Its GoNow eGates capabilities help streamline self-service boarding processes, giving passengers more control over their trips.