Hundreds of Air India passengers were left stranded at several airports across the world as its check-in software stopped functioning for around six hours, the airline said Saturday. According to airline sources, the software, which is of Atlanta-based SITA company, was not functioning approximately from 3 am to 9 am Saturday. Consequently, boarding passes could not be issued at major airports across the world and various flights were delayed. "The system has been restored. It has begun functioning. We regret the inconvenience that passengers had to face," said the national carrier's chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani. "We are trying to regularise all the flights for the day. But there would be some delay in flights today. I am expecting a delay of around two hours. Because in the morning, the whole system got disturbed," he added. #FlyAI: Our server system SITA, which faced a temporary glitch, this morning was restored at 0845hrs. Air India senior executives, including CMD, Directors, Station Heads rushed to airports to take control of situation & facilitate pax. Flts rescheduled to minimise inconvenience. pic.twitter.com/Np0DgRbQIV — Air India (@airindiain) April 27, 2019 Lohani said that Air India uses a passenger services system, which looks after check-in, baggage and reservation, of the SITA company and "it was taken for maintenance today morning" by them. "After that, there were some technical glitches, because of which, the system was not functional. There were some major problems at big airports such as Delhi," he added. SITA regretted the inconvenience caused said it had experienced a complex system issue during server maintenance early morning which resulted in operational disruption to flights. "We have now fully restored services at all airports where Air India were affected. Our priority remains, as always, to ensure a stable system where customers can conduct business efficiently and effectively, and we are undertaking a full investigation to understand the root cause and prevent a recurrence," it said in a statement to PTI. Many passengers vented their ire on social media as the airline could not issue them the boarding passes on Saturday morning. A Dr Sonal Saxena tweeted at 7.20 am, "Utter chaos. Air India systems not working at Delhi since 3 am. All flights grounded and delayed. No check-ins and boarding." The airline's spokesperson had said at around 8 am, "SITA server is down. Due to which flight operation is affected. Our technical teams are on work and soon system may be recovered." A similar incident took place on June 23 last year when a technical glitch in the airline's check-in software delayed 25 of its flights across India. The airline had tweeted on June 23, "Due to unexpexted network connectivity issues at SITA #Atlanta #Datacenter , which had a #worldwide impact, 25 flights were delayed from 1210 hrs to 1510 hrs on #Airindia network. Operations are normal now (sic)."<doc-sep>The flight operations of the Air India were restored after the system shutdown which affected the carrier's operations across the world, the ANI news agency reported citing CMD Air India Ashwani Lohani. "B/w 3:30 to 4:30 am today, passenger services system of Air India that is run by SITA was taken for maintenance & after that it remained down till 8:45 am, it has just come back. System restored. During the day we will see consequential delays," Lohani said as cited by the ANI news agency. Earlier it was reported that Air India's operations across the world had been affected because of a problem in the airline's main server. "Due to a breakdown in our server system some of our flights are getting affected all over the world. Work is on in full swing to restore the system. We sincerely regret inconvenience caused to passengers," the company said in a statement in its Twitter account. #FlyAI: Due to a breakdown in our server system some of our flights are getting affected all over the world. Work is on in full swing to restore the system. We sincerely regret inconvenience caused to passengers. — Air India (@airindiain) 27 апреля 2019 г. ​According to Air India spokesperson cited by NDTV, the issue happened because of a server shutdown at SITA, a Swiss company providing telecommunications and IT services for air industry. "The SITA server is down. Due to which flight operation is affected. Our technical teams are on work and soon system may be recovered. Inconvenience is deeply regretted," the spokesperson said. READ MORE: Moscow-Bound Flight Returns to Riga Airport Due to Depressurisation — Official Some 2,000 people have reportedly found themselves stuck in Mumbai airport, according to tweets posted from within the airport. Atleast 2000 people in Mumbai airport waiting because of the SITA software shutdown all over India. pic.twitter.com/TzYYFLE5vz — Gayathri Raguramm (@gayathriraguram) 27 апреля 2019 г. Air India chairman Ashwani Lohani confirmed to NDTV that the "airline's passenger's system is down". "It is a technical glitch which will be restored soon," Lohani said.<doc-sep>Many passengers complained on social media about being stranded at airports. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) Mumbai: CMD Air India Ashwani Lohani said, "Air India System restored" after Air India flights were affected since airline's SITA server was down all over India and overseas since 3:30 am, reported news agency ANI. Air India's software solution is managed by SITA, a global airlines IT services major, which provides its check-in, boarding and baggage tracking technology. According to an Air India official, the server was down since around 3 am Saturday morning due to which the airline is unable to issue boarding passes to passengers at airports across the world. Many passengers complained on social media about being stranded at airports. A similar incident took place on June 23 last year when a technical glitch in the airline's check-in software delayed 25 of its flights across India. (With PTI inputs)<doc-sep>
Air India airports #FlyAI: Our server system SITA, which faced a temporary glitch, this morning was restored at 0845hrs. Air India sen… https://t.co/kFu4bIs0Qm — Air India (@airindiain) 1556339685000 #FlyAI: Due to a breakdown in our server system some of our flights are getting affected all over the world. Work i… https://t.co/CcYI4HqYww — Air India (@airindiain) 1556334344000 Air India flights affected as airline's SITA server is down all over India & overseas since 3:30 am. More details a… https://t.co/0StBSzQ72k — ANI (@ANI) 1556331193000 #airindia @airindiain - Can you fix your stuff asap please.. Thanks https://t.co/96rpVHxYky — Manish (@mani_8612) 1556331941000 Air India server crashed since 3.30AM. All flights cancelled. Thousands of passengers stranded at the airport. Nobo… https://t.co/TsfDz13PZo — Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) 1556329420000 @airindiain 's birthday gift to me , spending the day in overcrowded delhi airport (all the crowd due to airindia's… https://t.co/SBsqeLBch4 — Madhura Sundaresan (@VSMadhura) 1556332071000 Atleast 2000 people in Mumbai airport waiting because of the SITA software shutdown all over India. https://t.co/TzYYFLE5vz — Gayathri Raguramm (@gayathriraguram) 1556327954000 on Saturday early morning reported a problem in its main server, leaving thousands of passengers stranded across all. All Air India international and domestic flights were affected as airline’s server was down all over India and overseas for over five hours since 3:30 am on Saturday.However, the national carrier informed on Saturday morning that the issue has been resolved. CMD Air India Ashwani Lohani told ANI, "Air India System restored". "SITA experienced a complex system issue during server maintenance early this morning, which resulted in operational disruption to Air India flights. We have now fully restored services at all airports where Air India were affected. Our priority remains, as always, to ensure a stable system where customers can conduct business efficiently and effectively, and we are undertaking a full investigation to understand the root cause and prevent a recurrence. We deeply regret the inconvenience this has caused to the airline and their customers owing to this disruption,” says Julius Baumann, SITA’s senior manager corporate communications. SITA says only AI flights were affected by the glitch.Due to a breakdown in the server system flights were affected all over the world. Air India spokesperson said, "SITA server is down. Due to which flight operation is affected. Our technical teams are on work and soon system may be recovered. Inconvenience is deeply regretted. "Many passengers complained on social media about delayed flights, sharing pictures and videos of crowded airports.On June 23 last year, a technical glitch in the airline's check-in software was reported delaying 25 of its flights across India.