Airlines and airports across the globe hit by widespread Microsoft outage
July 19, 2024
Millions of Windows users across the globe including, airlines, airports, banks, TV and radio broadcasters have been taken offline causing widespread disruption, after reporting a Blue Screen of Death error on Friday 19 July.
Users in Australia first started reporting issues early on Friday afternoon AEST as they were locked out of their workstations, with reports suggesting the outage was linked to a software update from cybersecurity giant Crowdstrike.
According to Microsoft ,the outage started with a subset of its customers experiencing issues with multiple Azure services. Commenting on X, The US tech giant said it was taking “mitigation actions” after services issues and “working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact.”
Delhi Airport in India reported that due to the global IT issue, some of its services had been temporarily impacted on Friday morning. It also said it was working closely with all stakeholders to minimise the inconvenience to its passengers.
Similarly, Vistara stated it was experiencing technical challenges across various aspects of its operations due to a global outage at its service provider’s end.
In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed airlines including United, American, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded, with check-ins, reservations and the ability to issue boarding passes all impacted as IT systems shut down. Elsewhere, carriers including Virgin Australia, Qantas and Turkish airlines have also experienced disruptions.
In the UK, Ryanair declared it is experiencing disruption across its network due to a global third-party IT outage, which is out of its control. The airline is advising all passengers to arrive at the airport at least three hours before their scheduled departure time.
All flights at Berlin-Brandenburg BER Airport in Germany were suspended on Friday morning, although some departures have since been resumed. Melbourne Airport in Australia also reported that check-in procedures for some airlines had been impacted, while Edinburgh Airport in the UK is advising passengers not to travel to the airport with queues building and “wait times longer than usual.”
Broadcasting companies have also been impacted with Sky News in the UK off air on Friday morning.
