Network Outage Hits Mumbai Airport, Disrupts Flights; Air India Warns of Delays
Flight operations at Mumbai Airport were significantly impacted on Saturday after a third-party data network outage crippled check-in systems, causing delays for multiple carriers, including Air India.
The airline issued a travel advisory, warning passengers of potential disruptions even after the systems were restored, urging travelers to check their flight status before heading to the airport. The outage occurred amid a surge in passenger traffic due to the Raksha Bandhan festival falling over the weekend.
In a statement posted on X, Air India confirmed the issue and its resolution. “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,” the airline said.
In a separate development, Air India has announced a significant change in its retirement policy, raising the age for its pilots to 65 years and for non-flying staff to 60. Previously, both categories retired at 58. The change, announced by CEO & MD Campbell Wilson during a town hall meeting, aligns the airline’s retirement norms with those of the former Vistara airline following its integration in November 2024.
This move addresses long-standing concerns among pilots regarding unequal retirement terms and formalizes a practice where many pilots already had their tenures extended up to the regulatory maximum of 65 years, as permitted by the DGCA. It remains unclear if the retirement age for the airline’s 9,500 cabin crew members has also been increased as part of the new policy for its approximately 24,000-strong workforce.
