Vijayawada: The Microsoft technical glitch affected the operations of several airlines on Friday, leading to either cancellation of flights or delayed arrivals/departures in four airports in Andhra Pradesh.
At the international airport here, seven out of 13 scheduled flights have been delayed. No online booking or cancellation of tickets was taking place during the day.
The airport authorities said the arrival/departure of flights was getting delayed as the air passengers have to be issued the boarding pass and the baggage tag manually. The normal practice was to issue them the printouts in just a few seconds as the data of the passengers has been computerised.
Airlines like Indigo, Air India, Alliance Air etc are being operated from the airport with 23 arrival/departure flights in a day.
Vijayawada airport director Lakshmi Kanth said, “No flight was cancelled here so far. There are delays, as we are issuing boarding passes and tags for the baggage manually to the passengers. Normally, it took just two seconds to issue a boarding pass. Now, it is taking 15 to 20 seconds by way of manual operations. We are hopeful the technical snag would be resolved expeditiously so that normalcy in flight bookings and operations can be restored.”
In Visakhapatnam international airport, four flights including three Indigo and one India One Air have been cancelled as the airport operates arrival/departure of 30 flights per day.
Airport director Raja Reddy said, “We have made arrangements to see that the passengers do not face any trouble. They are being provided with the boarding passes and baggage tags manually to avoid a prolonged delay to flight departures.”
In Tirupati, five flights have been cancelled and all these belong to Indigo airlines. Airport director Srinivasa Rao said, “Air passengers are able to understand the technical glitch affecting several sectors globally and they are cooperating with the airport.”
In Rajahmundry airport, the flights were getting delayed but there was no cancellation of flight. The airport sees arrival/departure of nine flights a day. Of these, six go to Hyderabad, two to Bengaluru and one to Chennai. Indigo is the major airline operating from the airport. Airport director Gnaneswara Rao said, “We are experiencing the impact of delayed arrivals/departures.”
