Is Amadeus to blame for the surge in IndiGo flight disruptions?

New Delhi: India’s aviation sector is grappling with a fresh bout of operational turbulence, as technical outages and chronic staffing pressures converge to disrupt schedules across several carriers.

The latest disruption emerged on Wednesday morning, when check-in systems at multiple airports slowed or stalled, forcing airlines to switch to manual check-in and boarding procedures.

A message displayed at Varanasi airport attributed the issue to a “major service outage” affecting Microsoft Windows. The technology firm swiftly rejected the claim as “factually incorrect”, and real-time outage tracker Downdetector showed no surge in complaints. There was no immediate word from the airlines themselves, but the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) acknowledged “operational challenges” affecting domestic carriers and said teams were working with partners to restore normal flows.

Air India described the problem as a “third-party system disruption”, noting that while systems were being progressively restored, residual delays were likely. IndiGo also reported delays, though it publicly attributed these to unspecified “operational issues”.

Although no official confirmation has been issued, industry sources cited by NDTV linked the glitch to Amadeus, the widely used global software system that underpins bookings, reservations and departure control for many airlines.

By late Tuesday, Air India said the affected systems had been fully restored and flights were running on schedule.

What is Amadeus?

Amadeus forms the digital backbone of many airlines, supporting everything from ticket reservations and seat inventory to check-in, boarding and departure control. A key component is its Global Distribution System (GDS), which connects travel providers with travel sellers such as agencies and online portals. When a travel agent searches for a flight, the GDS pulls real-time fare and seat data from multiple airlines, creates bookings, and updates any subsequent changes instantly in each airline’s reservation system. The GDS itself does not hold inventory; it acts as a live bridge to each provider’s database.

Beyond this, Amadeus also runs comprehensive Passenger Service Systems (PSS) that support reservations, departure control, baggage handling and other core airline operations. Airports may additionally use Amadeus tools to allocate gates, manage passenger flows and coordinate resources.

Because Amadeus offers a centralised, high-volume infrastructure used worldwide, even a brief interruption can have far-reaching consequences. A failure in one module, such as check-in, can disrupt interconnected processes including baggage handling and boarding, leading to long queues and cascading flight delays. Past outages have shown that such disruptions can spread rapidly, affecting airports across multiple continents.

The precise cause of Wednesday’s outage has not been officially confirmed. However, the dependence of airlines on shared digital systems meant that even a temporary failure was enough to slow operations at airports across India.

Meawhile, Indigo’s operational crisis continues as over 400 flights were cancelled on Thursday due to the new DGCA regulations on flight duty timings. The airline issued an apology to passengers on Thursday and stated that full flight operations will resume by February 2026.

(With PTI inputs)