Global Microsoft Outage disrupts flights, supermarkets and banking operations; many planes grounded
PTC Web Desk: A significant global outage affecting Microsoft services is causing widespread disruption across multiple sectors, including flights, supermarkets, and banking operations. This outage, if unresolved soon, could lead to substantial issues.
In India, three major airlines – IndiGo, SpiceJet, and Akasa Air – are experiencing technical problems affecting their booking, check-in, and flight update systems. As a result, these airlines are manually checking in passengers.
Impact on Airlines
SpiceJet has alerted its passengers to the technical difficulties via social media. "We're currently experiencing technical challenges with our service provider, affecting online services including booking, check-in, and manage booking functionalities. As a result, we have activated manual check-in and boarding processes across airports," SpiceJet stated on Twitter.
#ImportantUpdate: We are currently experiencing technical challenges with our service provider, affecting online services including booking, check-in, and manage booking functionalities. As a result, we have activated manual check-in and boarding processes across airports. We… — SpiceJet (@flyspicejet) July 19, 2024
They have advised passengers with upcoming travel plans to arrive at the airport earlier than usual to complete the manual check-in process.
Akasa Air also acknowledged the service disruption, stating, "Due to infrastructure issues with our service provider, some of our online services, including booking, check-in and manage booking services, will be temporarily unavailable. Currently, we are following manual check-in and boarding processes at the airports and hence request passengers with immediate travel plans to reach the airport early to check-in at our counters," the airline posted on Twitter.
IndiGo released a similar statement: "Our systems are currently impacted by a Microsoft outage, which is also affecting other companies. During this time, booking, check-in, access to your boarding pass, and some flights may be impacted. We appreciate your patience."
Our systems are currently impacted by a Microsoft outage, which is also affecting other companies. During this time booking, check-in, access to your boarding pass, and some flights may be impacted. We appreciate your patience. — IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) July 19, 2024
Impact on Airports
The Delhi airport has confirmed that some services have been affected by the global IT issue. "Due to the global IT issue, some of the services at the Delhi Airport were temporarily impacted. We are closely working with all our stakeholders to minimise the inconvenience to our flyers. Passengers are requested to be in touch with the airline concerned or the help desk on the ground for updated flight information. We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers," said the airport in a statement.
Similarly, systems at Bengaluru airport are down, although the exact number of flights delayed remains unknown.
International Disruptions
The outage is causing significant problems internationally as well. Australia is one of the worst-hit countries. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, ABC News 24 struggled to play news packages, and Woolworths supermarkets experienced a crash in their checkout systems, leading to several customers reporting that their cards were not working. Police systems in Australia have also been affected. Melbourne airport reported that the check-in processes for several airlines were disrupted due to the global technology issue. Virgin Australia stated that the outage prevented all planes from arriving and departing from Sydney Airport, leading to a complete ground stop.
In Europe, technical issues caused check-in delays in Amsterdam. At Berlin Brandenburg Airport in Germany, flight operations were canceled due to the "technical problem," and a spokeswoman could not specify when normal flight operations would resume.
In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration reported that all flights from major airlines, including Delta, United, and American Airlines, were grounded due to a communication issue. The 911 emergency services in several states were also impacted. The London Stock Exchange and British news channel Sky News faced disruptions as well.
Microsoft's Response
Millions of Windows users worldwide are encountering the Blue Screen of Death, causing computers to shut down or restart repeatedly. This issue is leading to a loss of unsaved data and critical time as services are disrupted. Affected systems display a message: "Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We're just collecting some error info, and then we'll restart for you." Blue Screen errors, also known as black screen errors or STOP code errors, occur when a critical issue forces Windows to unexpectedly shut down or restart.
Microsoft 365 has acknowledged the problem and stated that they are investigating the issue. The company is working to restore services and mitigate the widespread impact of the outage.
CERT-In issues advisory
Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued advisory that says, "It has been reported that Windows hosts related to Crowd strike agent Falcon Sensor, are facing outages and getting crashed due to recent update received in the product. The concerned Windows hosts are experiencing a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), related to Falcon Sensor. The issues occurred in the latest update of CrowdStrike and the changes have been reverted by the CrowdStrike Team..."
- With inputs from agencies
