Several SpiceJet flights across the country faced long delays throughout the day on Wednesday, which the airline said was due to a ransomware attack on its systems.
Many passengers complained on Twitter that they had to wait for several hours at the airport without any assistance from the airline. A passenger also tweeted a video from inside a SpiceJet flight from Delhi to Dharamshala.
"On board flight SG2345 to Dharmshala, it's been already 80 mins since we boarded the plane we have not taken off yet… the only communication is of some server down and issue with paper work for fuel, is this for real…" the irate traveller wrote early on Tuesday. Two hours later, he wrote again, "close to 3 hrs still there is no justified response from the team.
"Certain SpiceJet systems faced an attempted ransomware attack last night that has impacted our flight operations. While our IT team has to a large extent contained and rectified the situation, this has had a cascading effect on our flights leading to delays," a SpiceJet spokesperson said.
There were also some cancellations of flights that operate to airports which have restrictions on night operations.
The airline did not specify which particular IT software system was affected. It only said that multiple functions that impact flight operations were hampered, which included software for check-in, tools to calculate pilots' duty hours, as well as those that help in ensuring aircraft rotation between arrival and departure at an airport.
Last week, several SpiceJet flights were delayed over pending dues to Airports Authority of India.
