On July 19, 2024, in Bangkok, Thailand, crowds gathered at Suvarnabhumi Airport due to a combination of Microsoft outage and Crowdstrike IT issues affecting users.
Mellie Ostein-Tan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Several airlines suspended flights on Friday, while others warned of delays and service unavailability due to the outbreak. Unprecedented IT Disruption It was felt around the world.
Earlier Friday, the cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike experiences major disruption Link to technical updates. organization including microsoft There was a scramble to restore the applications and services used by a large number of companies.
Flight update and check-in monitors at airports around the world show so-called “Blue Screen of Death” Indicates a Microsoft system error. Sky News’ Stephen Murphy says Belfast International Airport is using whiteboards to allow staff to manually write out flight updates report.
“It seems that for the first time we are facing a truly global blackout… This outage not only affects individual users, but especially large institutions such as banks (including central banks), stock exchanges, airports, etc., causing operations to be paralyzed during the peak holiday period. Conotoxia Market Analyst Grzegorz Drozdz said in emailed comments.
July 19, 2024 A global IT outage is affecting airports around the world.
Kevin Brauninger | CNBC
Airlines in Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and Asia have released updates outlining the extent of the suspected impact on their flight schedules and wider services.
In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration said earlier on Friday that several airlines have requested assistance with ground parking for their fleets until the problem is resolved.
American It said it had been able to “safely re-establish our operations” as of 5 a.m. ET.
Shortly before 8 a.m. ET, delta It said some flights had resumed but “further delays and cancellations” were expected on Friday.
Unity It also said it was resuming some flights, but expected “disruptions to flight schedules to continue until Friday.” Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have both issued waivers to allow customers to change their travel plans.
Passengers wait at the check-in counter at Berlin Airport in Schonefeld, Germany, on July 19, 2024, after an IT outage disrupted air services in the country and around the world.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
In Europe, KLM explain On Friday morning, the company was forced to suspend “most” operations due to a power outage and said it was “unable to process flights.” At noon, the company said “air traffic may be limited at this time” and advised passengers to check flight status online and not go to the airport “if the flight is not taking off or is severely delayed.”
Its partner Air France said at 12:48pm UK time (5:46am ET) that its operations “remain close to normal” and only certain flights to Amsterdam and Berlin were affected, but further disruption could not be ruled out possibility.
A spokesman said there would be minimal disruption to flights operated by Lufthansa to and from Berlin. However, Eurowings, the low-cost German airline owned by the same group, updated in the early afternoon that it would cancel all domestic flights as well as flights to and from the UK departing before 3pm
Swiss air navigation service provider Skyguide said it had reduced its capacity for Swiss transit traffic by 30% as a precautionary measure following the disruption.
Britain’s busiest day for flights
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic both said they expected some flight disruptions on Friday.
Friday, July 19 is set to be the busiest day for flights this year, with the number of daily departures reaching the highest level since October 2019 (3,214), according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Cirium said 1,396 flights had been canceled globally as of 11.45am in London, a number that could change throughout the day.
London Gatwick and Heathrow airports both said they were using backup systems to continue operations but expected delays. Gatwick Airport said the issues involved “some airlines’ check-in systems, baggage and security, including eGates”.
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Singapore Changi Airport stated that the self-service check-in systems were not functioning properly and the check-in process was managed manually. Singapore Airlines said its flights are currently operating as planned.
Cathay Pacific said its self-service check-in facilities at Hong Kong International Airport have been restored after a technical outage.
“The facial recognition feature at Hong Kong International Airport’s baggage check-in facilities remains unavailable. If you are traveling with checked baggage, please allow additional time for document checks,” the airline said.
— Leslie Josephs and Carlo Angler Contributed reporting.
