On July 19, 2024, a global IT disruption caused by a Microsoft outage and a Crowdstrike IT issue occurs at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, both impacting users.
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Several airlines suspended flights on Friday, while others warned of delays and service outages as the effects of an unprecedented IT outage were felt around the world.
Early Friday, cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike experienced a major outage related to a technical update, forcing companies like Microsoft to rush to restore apps and services used by a large number of businesses.
Flight update and check-in monitors at airports around the world displayed what is known as the “Blue Screen of Death,” indicating a system error by Microsoft. Images shared on social media showed a board with flight updates at Belfast International Airport and a handwritten boarding pass for a flight on India's IndiGo.
“It seems like we are facing a real global blackout for the first time… The outage affected not only individual users but mainly large institutions such as banks (including central banks), stock exchanges and airports. It brought operations to a standstill during the peak holiday season and caused chaos in many other sectors,” said Grzegorz Drozdz, market analyst at Conotoxia, in an emailed comment.
On July 19, 2024, there will be a global IT outage at airports around the world.
Kevin Breuninger |
Airlines across Europe, the Middle East, North and South America and Asia released updates outlining the expected extent of the impact on their flight schedules and other services. Passengers were advised to check the status of their flight.
In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced early Friday that several airlines had asked for assistance in grounding their fleets until the problems were resolved.
American said that as of 5 a.m. ET, it had been able to “safely restore our operations.”
Shortly before 8 a.m. ET, Delta announced that some flights had resumed, but that “further delays and cancellations” were expected on Friday.
United also said some flights would resume but that “schedule disruptions would continue throughout Friday.” Both Delta and United issued waivers to allow customers to change their travel plans.
Colby Black, 45, took the delays in his stride, even though he wasn't sure when his rebooked flight to Los Angeles would take off.
“The board says 8 a.m., but on my app it says 9 a.m., so who knows,” he said of the flight that was originally scheduled to depart at 6 a.m. “I'm just tired. I want to sleep,” said Black, who woke up at 3 a.m. “But other than that, yeah, these things happen.”
Travelers wait at check-in counters at Berlin Airport in Schönefeld, Germany, on July 19, 2024, during an IT outage that has disrupted air traffic here and around the world.
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In Europe, Dutch airline KLM said on Friday morning that it had been forced to suspend “most” of its operations due to the outage. The outage had made it “impossible to operate flights”. At midday, it said “restricted air traffic is currently possible” and passengers were asked to check their flight status online and not to come to the airport “if their flight is not departing or is significantly delayed”.
Partner airline Air France said at 12:48 UK time (5:46 ET) that flight operations were “largely normal” and only certain flights to Amsterdam and Berlin were affected. However, further disruptions could not be ruled out.
There was minimal disruption to German airline Lufthansa's flights to and from Berlin, a spokesman said. However, German budget airline Eurowings, which belongs to the same group, said early in the afternoon that it would cancel all domestic flights as well as flights to and from the UK that were due to depart before 3 p.m.
The Swiss air traffic control company Skyguide announced that it had reduced the capacity of Swiss transit traffic by 30 percent as a precautionary measure following the disruption.
Busiest day for flights to the UK
British airlines British Airways and Virgin Atlantic both said some flight disruptions were expected on Friday.
According to aviation analysis company Cirium, Friday, July 19 is set to be the busiest day of the year. With 3,214 departures per day, the highest number since October 2019 is planned.
As of 11:45 a.m. in London, 1,396 flights had been canceled worldwide, a number that is likely to change throughout the day, Cirium said.
London's Gatwick and Heathrow airports both said they were switching operations to backup systems but expected delays. Gatwick said the problems had affected “some airlines' check-in systems, baggage and security, including eGates”.
Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan and Changi Airport in Singapore said self-check-in systems were not working and check-in processes were being handled manually. Singapore Airlines said flights were currently operating as scheduled.
Cathay Pacific announced that the self-service check-in facilities at Hong Kong International Airport have been restored to operation following a technical malfunction.
“Facial recognition in the baggage drop-off facilities at Hong Kong International Airport remains unavailable. Please allow additional time for document screening when travelling with checked baggage,” the airline said.
Airlines in mainland China such as Air China and China Southern were not affected because they use a different system, Reuters reported, citing state media.
— Kevin Breuninger, Leslie Josephs and Carlo Angerer contributed to reporting.
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