Flights affected as Delhi airport radar fails

New Delhi: The approach radar at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) has failed leaving passengers stranded inside aircraft and affecting several flights. 

 

“This is the third or fourth failure in the last six months with this radar. It goes into stand-by mode from primary mode,” said an airline official who declined to be named. “Flights are circling the sky. Fortunately, they have stand-by fuel. If it’s not restored early, they will have to be diverted.”

 

The radar failed at about 12.35 pm on Friday. With no backup available, the system goes into standby mode and has to be rebooted, a process that can take more than 30 minutes.

In 2010, the radar system at Delhi’s air traffic control stopped working for more than an hour, delaying at least 200 flights by up to three hours. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had launched a probe at the time. 

 

A Delhi airport spokesman confirmed the failure. The Airports Authority of India said air traffic control officials were not immediately available for comment.

On 31 January, the Kolkata airport radar had failed and some flights had to be diverted to Dhaka airport in Bangladesh, said another airline official who too declined to be named.