India, Nov. 9 -- The engineers overseeing India's air navigation systems have told the civil aviation ministry that the breakdown at Delhi airport was the result of "technology failure" flagging outdated systems and poor technical utilisation as root causes of the crisis.

In an e-mail sent to civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu, secretary Samir Kumar Sinha and Airports Authority of India (AAI) chairman Vipin Kumar on Sunday, the Air Traffic Safety Electronics Personnel Association (ATSEPA-India) said the disruption was a result of "technology failure, not manpower shortage," pointing to the obsolete Aeronautical Message Switching System (AMSS) that "lacks redundancy and modern capability."

"The recent operational disruptions at Delh...