Worldwide tech outage halts businesses, grounds flights

NEW YORK – CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm that services numerous industries, was down across parts of the world Friday morning, halting news broadcasts and grounding flights.

The problem started spreading in Thailand on Friday afternoon, with major airports including Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang hard hit. Airports of Thailand advised passengers to allow an additional four hours for check-in as the systems of numerous airlines were affected.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States, at least three major US airlines, American, United and Delta, grounded all flights. 

In Australia, the New South Wales Police Force said on social media that it was aware of a system outage.

Problems persisted at Sydney Airport, one of Australia’s largest and busiest transport hubs, just as the weekend was getting underway for many.

“A global technical outage has impacted some airplane operations and terminal services,” the airport said on social media. “Flights are currently arriving and departing, however there may be some delays throughout the evening.”

The airport said it had activated its contingency plan and deployed additional staff to the terminals.

Representatives for CrowdStrike did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, March 25, 2024. (Photo: Reuters)

The round of severe disruptions Friday comes after Frontier Airlines briefly grounded flights Thursday evening because of a major outage in Microsoft networks. Some low-cost carriers like Allegiant Air and Sun Country Airlines were also affected.

Microsoft said the problem had affected multiple systems for customers in the central United States.

“We’re aware of an issue affecting Windows devices due to an update from a third-party software platform,” said a Microsoft spokesman. “We anticipate a resolution is forthcoming.”

Suvarnabhumi airport made an announcement on its Facebook page on Friday, saying its core reservation and check-in system are impacted by a global information technology (IT) issue affecting airlines worldwide.

Passengers may experience slower check-in and longer queues, according to the announcement.

“Guests are strongly encouraged to arrive at the airport in advance for their flights to avoid any disruptions. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time.”

Disruptions were also reported at Don Mueang Airport, where Thai AirAsia said a failure of the Microsoft Azure system affected ground service operating systems.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Source – Bangkok News