Air India server goes down, long queues at airports due to manual check-in

Air India operations ground to a frustrating halt across the country on Wednesday as a major server outage crippled its check-in and baggage systems, causing massive queues and significant inconvenience for passengers. The disruption, which began around 3 p.m. at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) Terminal 2 and quickly spread nationwide, caught the airline and thousands of travellers off guard.

The sudden technology failure meant essential processes like issuing boarding passes and accepting checked baggage could not be completed, turning busy airport lobbies into scenes of dismay and confusion. The most visible impact was felt at IGI’s Terminal 2, where flights were primarily affected.

Passengers, already anxious about their travel plans, were seen wandering around the terminal, unable to proceed to their departure gates. An official at Delhi Airport confirmed the severity of the situation, stating that Air India’s servers were down at all airports across India. The official added a note of reassurance that efforts were underway and the issue was expected to be resolved shortly, though a timeline for full restoration remained unclear.

An Air India employee on the ground elaborated on the technical issue, confirming that the software responsible for passenger services had failed. This directly prevented the crucial step of luggage drop-off, which led to the immediate build-up of queues. For many passengers, this was more than a delay; it was a roadblock, forcing them to wait indefinitely for the system to reboot before their travel could continue.