- A major global IT disruption disrupted airlines, banks, retailers and media outlets.
- The widespread outage has been linked to problems at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
- Affected operations include airlines in the US and Europe, supermarkets, and around 911 lines.
Mass IT outages have hit airlines, banks, retailers and media outlets around the world.
The issue appears to be linked to cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike.
Microsoft also acknowledged the issue in a X Update Early Friday morning: wrote, “Our service is still undergoing ongoing improvements while we continue to take mitigation actions.”
Following are some of the companies and operations affected.
airline
Airlines including United, Delta, American and Allegiant have all grounded flights due to the mass outage.
American Airlines blamed Crowdstrike for the issues. The airline said the technical issues were caused by “a technical issue with Crowdstrike that affected multiple airlines,” according to BBC News.
On Thursday night, Frontier Airlines published similar ground stop order, which read in a statement: “Flight operations are currently being impacted by a major Microsoft technical outage.”
European airlines Ryanair and KLM were affected by the outage.
In a post on X, Ryanair said: “We are currently experiencing network-wide disruption due to a Global third party IT outage which is beyond our control.” The airline advised passengers to arrive at the airport at least 3 hours before their scheduled departure time.
KLM also said it had suspended most of its operations.
“KLM and other airlines and airports have been affected by a global computer outage, which has made it impossible to handle flights. We recognise that this is extremely inconvenient for our customers and staff, especially in the midst of the summer holiday season. We are working hard to resolve the issue. Until then, we must suspend most operations,” the airline said in a post X.
911 line
According to a Facebook post from the Alaska State Troopers, the state’s emergency lines were also affected.
The post said: “Due to a nationwide technology outage, many 911 and non-emergency call centers are not functioning properly across the State of Alaska.”
“We appreciate your patience and will let you know if we learn more,” the statement said.
Airport
The UK’s major airports, Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton, have reported problems, with some warning of delays and disruption.
Gatwick Express’ X account posted that the company was unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, “leading to potential last-minute cancellations, particularly on the Thameslink and Great Northern networks.”
Hospitals and doctor’s clinics
Several hospitals and doctors’ practices appear to have been affected by the power outage.
In the UK, the NHS EMIS system, used by doctors to book appointments, view patient records, order prescriptions and make referrals, appears to be experiencing problems.
An NHS spokesperson told BI in a statement: “The NHS is aware of a global IT outage and issues with EMIS, our appointment and patient records system, which is causing disruption across the majority of GP practices.
They said long-term measures had been put in place to manage the disruption and there was no known impact on 999 or emergency services, so people should use these services as normal.
“Patients should attend appointments unless told otherwise and only contact their GP if it is urgent, otherwise please use 111 online or call 111,” they added.
Two German hospitals have canceled elective surgeries scheduled for Friday, Reuters reported.
Media channels such as the UK’s Sky News
Sky News also appeared to be affected by the outage. The British news channel aired archive footage and briefly displayed an error message.
The news site appears to be up and running at the time of writing.
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange website is also experiencing problems.
“RNS news service is currently experiencing a third-party global technical issue, which is preventing news from being published on www.londonstockexchange.com,” the company said in a statement.
“Technical teams are working to restore services. Other services across the group, including the London Stock Exchange, continue to operate as normal,” it added.
Retailer and fast food giant
McDonald’s Japan closed about a third of its stores in the country on Friday, Bloomberg reported. The problem was with the stores’ cash registers, the report said.
Grocery chain Woolworths told BI that some stores were “impacted by a global IT issue.” All but six stores remained open, but some had fewer cashiers.
Bloomberg reported that at the Ocean Park Marriott in Hong Kong, staff were using pen and paper to check in guests and said the outage affected its systems globally.
