Mumbai Airport Network Outage Prompts Manual Check-In as Hundreds of Flights Face Delays
Mumbai airport experienced a network disruption on October 27 and temporarily switched to manual passenger processing; flight-tracking data also showed widespread delays, although the causal overlap was unclear. Private operator Mumbai International Airport Ltd verified that the aviation facility encountered a temporary telecommunications and server disruption on Tuesday evening. Airlines operating out of the facility, including IndiGo and Air India, transitioned passenger processing and baggage handling procedures to manual operations. Departure concourses experienced passenger crowding compounded by sudden boarding gate reassignments and delayed flight crew arrivals. Flightradar24 data cited by news agencies showed 327 delayed flights around 9:30 p.m.; it was not established how many of those delays were caused by the outage.
Aviation analysts noted that outbound flight departures from the Mumbai hub experienced an average delay duration of thirty-six minutes. Airport operator MIAL issued official statements maintaining that essential passenger facilitation services continued without an overall cessation of flight operations. The private terminal management company did not provide specific technical explanations regarding the primary origin of the electronic network failure. Airport technical teams worked to restore services; the operator had not publicly identified the specific technical cause. Airline customer service representatives advised travelers to consult digital schedules directly with operating carriers before arriving at departure halls. The metropolitan airport serves as a critical passenger hub, managing hundreds of domestic and intercontinental air movements daily. The airport operator acknowledged a temporary network disruption and said staff switched to manual processing; the cause of wider delays was not established.
A separate December 2022 Mumbai airport outage was linked to a cut cable during metro construction, according to The Statesman; that earlier episode does not establish the cause of the October 2026 disruption.
Ground handling staff deployed additional customer assistance personnel across terminal check-in counters to alleviate passenger wait times. MIAL said it temporarily used manual processing to keep essential passenger services operating while technical teams addressed the disruption. Industry observers noted that it remained uncertain how many flight cancellations stemmed directly from network faults versus wider airspace congestion. Automated flight tracking indicated that arrivals also absorbed cascading delays as aircraft waited for available disembarkation parking gates. The operator said technical teams were addressing the disruption, but its statement did not establish a precise restoration time or root cause. The operator did not disclose the full technical cause of the disruption or details of any future network redundancy programme. Aviation authorities reminded departing travelers to monitor their scheduled flight status directly during ongoing technical disruptions. News service dispatches from PTI reported that terminal operators activated operational measures to maintain continuity throughout the disruption.
The network outage rendered automated e-gates and DigiYatra facilities at terminal entrances inoperable, requiring Central Industrial Security Force personnel to clear passengers individually, according to Gulf Business.
A two-hour Flightradar24 sample of Mumbai departures, from 7 to 9 p.m., showed at least 60-minute delays on 18 of 44 listed passenger services and three cancellations; attribution to the network outage remained unproven.