Global Computer Outage Triggers US Flight Cancellations, Disrupts Businesses

Hundreds of flights across the United States were grounded on Friday morning due to a significant technical issue affecting businesses globally, resulting in cancellations, delays, and confusion at airports nationwide.

A cybersecurity company clarified that the issue was “not a security incident or cyberattack.” However, the disruption also impacted international airlines, New York and Washington, DC mass transit, some 911 operations in the US, banking systems in Australia, South Africa, and the UK, Hong Kong’s Disneyland, and the Israeli health service.

As of Friday morning, more than 1,200 flights into, out of, or within the United States had been canceled, according to FlightAware.com. Charlotte Douglas International Airport advised passengers not to come to the airport unless their flights were confirmed. Travelers at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world’s busiest, were stranded as they tried to reach important events such as funerals.

“The FAA is closely monitoring a technical issue impacting IT systems at U.S. airlines,” the Federal Aviation Administration posted on social media. “Several airlines have requested FAA assistance with ground stops until the issue is resolved.”

CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that lists Microsoft among its clients, stated it is “actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts,” according to CEO George Kurtz on X. He emphasized, “This is not a security incident or cyberattack.” Kurtz later told NBC that the issue is being resolved.

“As systems come back online and are rebooted, they are working,” Kurtz said on NBC’s “Today” show Friday morning. However, he noted that it could take “some time” for certain systems to fully recover.

US Airlines’ Responses:
– **Delta Air Lines** paused its global flight schedule due to the technology issue affecting several airlines and businesses worldwide. Delta later resumed some flights and apologized to customers, offering a travel waiver.
– **American Airlines** resolved its operational issue by 5 a.m. ET and apologized for the inconvenience caused.
– **Spirit Airlines** reported its reservation system was impacted and advised passengers to check back for updates, apologizing for the inconvenience.
– **Southwest Airlines** stated the outage did not affect its operations.
– **Frontier Airlines** and some other airlines were significantly impacted by a Microsoft outage on Thursday. The ground stop was lifted, and Frontier offered refunds to affected passengers.
– **United Airlines** resumed some flights early Friday morning but cautioned travelers about potential delays and issued waivers for eligible customers.
– **Allegiant Air** and **Sun Country Airlines** faced difficulties with online booking, check-in, and trip-management functions. The FAA grounded all Allegiant flights on Friday morning.

Numerous international airlines, including Virgin Australia and Qantas, along with airports across Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, also reported technical disruptions on Friday.

Microsoft reported that service issues began around 6 p.m. ET Thursday for some customers in the central United States, affecting service management operations and connectivity or availability of services, according to the Azure cloud software status report site. The company is working to resolve the issue, but a spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.