Mumbai Airport Network Outage Causes Flight Delays, Air India Issues Advisory

Flight operations at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) faced major disruption following a data network outage on Friday. While the affected systems have now been restored, Air India has warned that residual delays could persist as operations gradually return to normal.

The outage impacted check-in systems for multiple airlines, including Air India, leading to delayed departures. In an advisory on X, Air India stated, "A third-party data network outage had impacted check-in systems at Mumbai airport, thereby delaying flight departures of airlines, including Air India. The systems have since been restored, however, some of our flights may continue to be affected for some time as the situation normalises progressively."

Airport authorities confirmed they were taking measures to ease passenger movement and minimise further disruption. Responding to a passenger query on X, CSMIA said, "We're currently facing a network failure across the airport. We've activated contingencies and are working on resolving the issue with our core team. We're operating in manual mode to minimize disruptions. We appreciate your patience in this regard."

The disruption occurred amid heightened passenger traffic due to the Raksha Bandhan festival coinciding with the weekend, resulting in a surge in travel demand nationwide.

In a separate development, Air India has increased the retirement age for its pilots from 58 to 65 years and for non-flying staff from 58 to 60, according to a PTI report.