Global computer outage forces mass flight cancelations across the US and wreaks havoc on other businesses
(CNN) — All flights from several major US airlines were temporarily grounded Friday morning due to a communication issue – part of a technical disaster impacting businesses worldwide.
A cybersecurity company said the debacle is “not a security incident or cyberattack.” But the ground stop impacted all flights from those airlines, regardless of their destination, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Live updates: Global tech outages hit airlines, banks and businesses
As of mid-Friday morning, more than 1,000 flights into, out of or within the United States had been canceled, according to FlightAware.com.
“The FAA is closely monitoring a technical issue impacting IT systems at U.S. airlines,” the FAA posted on social media. “Several airlines have requested FAA assistance with ground stops until the issue is resolved.”
The CEO of CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that has Microsoft among its clients, said the IT issue causing a global outage has been identified and a fix has been deployed.
“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts,” CEO George Kurtz posted on X. “This is not a security incident or cyberattack.”
The technical crisis also affected international airlines as well as mass transit in New York and Washington, DC; banking in Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and elsewhere, Hong Kong Disneyland and the Israeli health service.
What US airlines are saying
– Delta Air Lines “paused its global flight schedule this morning due to a vendor technology issue that is impacting several airlines and businesses around the world,” it said in a statement Friday morning. The airline apologized to impacted customers and said a travel waiver would be issued.
– American Airlines said it has resolved the issue affecting its operations Friday. “Earlier this morning, a technical issue with a vendor impacted multiple carriers, including American. As of 5 a.m. ET, we have been able to safely re-establish our operation,” American said in a statement to CNN. “We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”
– Spirit Airlines said in a travel advisory Friday morning its reservation system was impacted by the outage. The airline asked passengers to check back for updates and apologized “for any inconvenience this may cause.”
– Frontier Airlines and some competitors were brought to a standstill for hours after a significant Microsoft outage Thursday. The ground stop for those airlines has been lifted, and Frontier offered refunds to inconvenienced passengers.
– United Airlines said it was resuming “some flights” early Friday morning. United cautioned travelers they might experience delays Friday and issued waivers for eligible customers to change their travel plans.
– Allegiant Air and Sun Country Airlines said they were having difficulties involving booking, check-in and trip-managing functions online. The FAA announced Friday morning that all Allegiant flights would be grounded.
– Numerous international airlines also reported technical disruptions on Friday, including Virgin Australia and Qantas, along with airports across Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Microsoft said service went down for some customers in the central United States around 6 p.m. ET Thursday, “including failures with service management operations and connectivity or availability of services,” according to the Azure cloud software status report site.
The company said it determined the cause and is working to fix it. A company spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN’s Samantha Waldenberg, Keith Allen and Robert North contributed to this report.
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