Flight operations at Delhi airport returning to normal, says DIAL
New Delhi (PTI): Airline operations at the Delhi airport, the country's busiest airport, were slowly returning to normalcy on Saturday morning, a day after a glitch with the air traffic control system delayed more than 800 flights.
The technical problem with the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), which supports the air traffic control's flight planning process, continued for over 15 hours from around 5:45 am on Friday before the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said at around 9 pm that the issue has been addressed.
The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the national capital that has four runways, handles more than 1,500 flight movements daily.
Delhi airport operator DIAL on Saturday morning said the technical issue which affected the AMSS is gradually improving.
"Airline operations at Delhi Airport are returning to normal, and all concerned authorities are working diligently to minimise any inconvenience caused," it said in a post on X.
Apart from over 800 flights that faced delays, some services were also cancelled on Friday, impacting hundreds of passengers.
The country's largest airline IndiGo on Saturday morning said the airport operator and Air Traffic Control (ATC) teams were working on priority to fully restore systems and stabilise operations.
"The situation is expected to be normalised over the next few hours. During this period, some departure and arrival timings may continue to be adjusted," it said in a post on X.
Information available on flight tracking website Flightradar24.com showed that over 200 flights were delayed at the airport, including arrivals and departures, on Saturday morning.
It could not be immediately ascertained whether the flight delays were only due to the AMSS issue which is gradually improving.
While the AMSS started facing the technical issue Thursday late afternoon, the outage with the system happened at around 5:45 am on Friday, following which air traffic controllers had to prepare flight plans manually, according to sources.
The AAI, which provides navigation and other services, had also deployed additional manpower to prepare the flight plans manually which is a time-consuming process.
On Friday evening, the AAI said it has addressed the "technical issue in the AMSS, which caused delays in processing flight plan messages".
The issue was detected in the IP-based AMSS system on November 6.
"The OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) was engaged, and additional staff were deployed to manually process Flight Plans for the Air Traffic Control system to ensure uninterrupted and safe air traffic operations immediately.
"A team of ECIL officials and AAI personnel is still on site. The AMSS systems are up and functional now. Due to some backlogs, there may be some delays in the normal functioning of automated operations, but the situation will be normal soon," the AAI had said.
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South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
