The mass IT outage is causing chaos globally, with many airlines grounding planes and financial services, retail outlets, railway companies and hospitals in several parts of the world affected in what’s being dubbed the “largest IT outage in history”.
The cause, exact nature and scale of the outage was unclear. Microsoft suggested in its X posts that the situation was improving but escalating outages were still being reported around the world hours later.
The website DownDectector, which tracks user-reported internet outages, recorded growing outages in services at Visa, ADT security and Amazon.
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Aviation analytics firm Cirium said more than 1400 flights had been cancelled around the world so far today, as at 9pm AEST, out of the 110,000 commercial flights scheduled to take off on Friday.
That number was expected to grow as knock-on effects kick in across the day.
Airports around the world have been reporting outages and delays as a result, including at Christchurch International Airport in New Zealand, Prague Airport and Singapore’s Changi airport.
One of Europe’s busiest airports, Amsterdam Schiphol, is experiencing average delays of 78 minutes, according to Flight Radar.
According to their data, only one in 20 flights are leaving the transport hub on time, with 88 per cent delayed and seven per cent cancelled.
London’s Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted airports have also been impacted by delays.
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“Flights are operational though we are experiencing delays,” a Heathrow Airport spokesperson said.
“We are implementing contingency plans to minimise any impact on journeys.
Dutch airline KLM has been forced to “largely” had to suspend operations, saying that flight handling is currently “impossible”.
Dubai International Airport said the check-in process for some airlines had been affected, but that it is “now back to operating normally”.
Six Indian airlines and Delhi airport are reportedly impacted by tech disruptions, with one user on X sharing a handwritten boarding pass they had been issued.
While at Belfast Airport, the whiteboards have come out as an improvised departures board, according to passengers who have shared photos on social media.
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There are reports of departure boards freezing at Edinburgh airport in the main building terminal, while out-of-date information is showing at departure gates, with the airport no longer accepting incoming flights that haven’t already taken off, according to the BBC.
In other parts of Europe, Berlin’s Brandenburg airport has issued a message of delays at check-in “due to a technical fault”, while AENA, which manages 46 airports in Spain says they are suffering delays as they switch to manual systems.
Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok and Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, also both had lengthy queues as delays impacted thousands of passengers.
Japan’s Narita airport, near Tokyo, says airlines there – including Jetstar and Qantas – are having issues.
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Singapore Airlines noted on X that none of its flights have been impacted, but that it is experiencing technical difficulties.
AirAsia and Cebu Pacific Air are also among the airlines resorting to manual check-in processes.
Hong Kong Airport is reportedly in “chaos”, with check-ins being done manually, but flights are still taking off.
Cathay Pacific said its online flight booking service is currently unavailable, according to a statement on its website.
It also said in a separate statement that “due to unexpected technical issues, self-service check-in facilities at Hong Kong International Airport are currently unavailable.”
Hong Kong Disneyland said its online ticketing system was down due to an “unexpected computer system outage” and asked park visitors to purchase on-day tickets from a ticket booth at the park’s entrance.
In the US three major airlines – American Airlines, United and Delta – issued a “global ground stop” on all of their flights earlier, with American Airlines saying they’ve since “safely re-established” operations impacted by outages.
The White House said it was “looking into” the disruption.
“We’re aware of the incident and are looking into the issue and impacts,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson told CNN.
Emergency services and 911 outages were reported across several US states on Friday morning (evening AEST).
Police in Phoenix, Arizona, said the outage had impacted the Phoenix Police Department’s computerised 911 dispatch centre, but the 911 centre remained operational.
“If you need to call 911, stay on the line if you are put on a brief hold. City IT is working diligently to find a workaround until the outage has been restored,” police said on X.
In Alaska, many 911 and non-emergency call centres aren’t working correctly across the state, Alaska State Troopers said in a Facebook post.
The German University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), one of Europe’s largest medical care facilities, cancelled all elective procedures on Friday at both locations in the cities of Kiel and Lübeck, northern Germany. Outpatient clinics were also closed.
In Norway, two pharmacy chains said they are having problems providing customers with their prescription medicine and are facing substantial connection delays due to the global network problems.
While in the UK, there are reports the outage is impacting the National Health Service (NHS) systems and GPs are only seeing the most unwell patients.
Pharmacies are also being impacted, with the National Pharmacy Association urging “patients to be patient whilst visiting their pharmacy”.
British supermarkets Sainsburys, Tesco and Morrisons have all been impacted by the outage, with some only accepting cash.
The UK government held an emergency meeting to discuss the global tech outage, Downing Street said on Friday, according to PA media.
“We recognise the impact this is having on services and the Government is working closely with the respective sectors and industries on this issue, which is affecting services not only across the UK but also globally,” a Downing Street spokesperson told reporters on Friday, PA reported.
The spokesperson added that she is not aware of any government business being hit by the outage.
However, the UK rail network has been significantly impacted, with at least 14 rail operators saying they are experiencing difficulties.
UK banks and betting agencies are also among the companies hit.
London’s Stock Exchange says there are problems with it’s RNS (regulatory news service) but it’s currently operating as normal.
Borsa Italiana, the company that manages Milan’s stock exchange, said the “correct disclosure of the index FTSE MIB has been restored”.
Earlier on Friday, the company had said that the index had not been updated, without providing additional information.
Malaysia’s Bursa Malaysia Bhd stock exchange said the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI index value feed is “experiencing service disruption” and that the company is investigating the matter, according to Malaysia’s national news agency Bernama.
The outage was also impacting the lead up to the Paris Olympics, with organisers saying some Olympic delegations’ arrivals, as well as the delivery of some uniforms and accreditations, have been delayed because as a result of the outage.
The organisers said in a statement that ticketing and the torch relay have not been affected.
“Our teams have been fully mobilised to ensure the continuity of operations at optimum levels,” organisers said.
A spokesperson for New Zealand’s parliament says their computer network is having issues.
Some New Zealand banks said they were also offline.
In Australia, the outages are hitting banks NAB, Commonwealth and Bendigo, and airlines Virgin Australia and Qantas, as well as internet and phone providers such as Telstra.
The internet outage affecting Microsoft 365 apps and services is linked to a defect sent out in a Windows update by third-party software platform, Crowdstrike.
According to the chief executive of the cybersecurity company at the heart of the worldwide outage, they are working on the issue with a “fix” deployed.
“This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said on the social platform X.
“The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”
Microsoft said the “underlying cause” that caused the global outage “has been fixed”, adding that residual impact is still affecting some services.
“The underlying cause has been fixed, however, residual impact is continuing to affect some Microsoft 365 apps and services,” Microsoft said in a post on X Friday.
“We’re conducting additional mitigations to provide relief,” the post added.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz began an NBC interview with the words “we’re deeply sorry”.
He says the global outage issue was “identified very quickly” but admits it “could take some time” for systems to recover.
– Reported with Associated Press and CNN.
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