Power outage at IGI, no flights impacted

DIAL said that during the outage on Monday, certain processes like baggage acceptance at boarding gates or DigiYatra e-gates were briefly affected

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport experienced a power disruption on Monday between 2 and 3pm due to a 765kV line under the Delhi Transco Limited (DTL) tripping, said the airport operator, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL). The airport operated during this period using diesel generators and power backups, which were activated within minutes, DIAL said.

Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International airport. (HT Archive)

DIAL reported that during this outage, certain processes like baggage acceptance at boarding gates or DigiYatra e-gates were briefly affected as the systems rebooted. Despite these issues, flight operations continued as scheduled without any delays, they added.

”Around 2pm today, Delhi Airport’s main receiving substation (MRSS) detected a significant voltage spike at the grid, reportedly due to the tripping of a 765kV line. This voltage imbalance from the DTL grid briefly impacted all IGI terminals, affecting baggage acceptance and e-gates,” said a DIAL spokesperson.

The spokesperson added that the power backup system was operational within a few minutes, ensuring minimal disruption for passengers. However, it took about two to three minutes for the air-conditioners to power back up due to the high power demand, said an airport official.

“When power switches from the main grid to diesel generator sets, due to such a high power requirement for ACs, it takes them a couple of minutes to power up. Meanwhile, baggage checking and DigiYatra began to reboot during this switch over too,” the official explained.

By 3pm, the grid voltage had stabilized and all services smoothly transitioned back from the diesel generators load to the DTL grid load. “By 3pm, the diesel generators were disconnected. We appreciate the patience and understanding of all passengers during this brief period,” the DIAL spokesperson added.

A DTL spokesperson explained that a transmission line from Agra to Jhatikra tripped, leading to power fluctuations at the airport. “An alternative power line was provided from Jhatikra, but its lower power and frequency caused the initial disruption,” they said.

During the outage, passengers expressed their frustrations on social media, highlighting issues with the DigiYatra system and other services. One user on the platform X wrote, “T3 terminal #delhi #airport totally choked due to power failure! No counter, No digi yatra, nothing functioning. This is shocking.”