New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) A technical snag early Wednesday crippled the state-of-the-art check-in counter system at the Terminal-3 of the national capital's airport, delaying around 45 flights, a senior official said.

"A technical snag occurred on our common user interface system that is used for the check-in counters for passengers at around 3.00 a.m.," a senior Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) official told IANS.

According to the official, the snag delayed around 45 flights till Wednesday afternoon and was being fixed by the concerned information technology (IT) company which had installed the high-tech system.

"No flight has been cancelled till now. But around 45 flights are delayed," the official said at 1 p.m., adding: "The system would be up and running with in a few hours."

Airlines like flag carrier Air India, which operates more than 50 of the 173 counters with the new common use passenger processing system (Cupps) were hit, with AI delaying five flights.

The system does away with the need for airlines to have dedicated check-in counters at airports, enabling them to add or remove them depending on the rush at any given time.

"Around 15-odd counters are operational for the three domestic airlines which operate here, while a few counters are still functioning for some international airlines," the official further said.

The Cupps system operates on a common software-and-hardware driven platform that integrates all the information such as an airline's reservation system, the expected time of departure, and the capacity at the waiting lounges.