Flight delays and cancellations are taking place across America and the world, in the wake of a Microsoft Cloud outage that began yesterday, July 18. The global tech issue has reportedly impacted a number of major airline carriers and other businesses that rely on cloud storage.
US cyber security company CrowdStrike – a client of Microsoft – has taken responsibility for the problem. It announced that the cause was a “defect found in a single content update” and stated it was “not a security incident or cyberattack.”
The current state of play is still developing, and it remains unclear whether “ground stops” will be implemented and flights delayed until the problem is rectified. US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on X that the government was closely following the situation with Frontier Airlines. He wrote:
“We are monitoring technical issues at Frontier Airlines leading to cancellations and delays across their network. Our department will hold Frontier, and all airlines, to their responsibilities to meet the needs of passengers. Visit http://flightrights.gov to know your rights.”
American Airlines, early on Friday, had flights grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). “We’re aware of a technology issue with a vendor that is impacting multiple carriers. American is working with the vendor to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” the airline noted in a statement.
Reports suggest that it is not just flights that are impacted.
North America’s largest transport network, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), said that some of its customer information systems have gone offline. “Train and bus service is unaffected,” the MTA said in a post. “Please listen for announcements in your station, on your train, or on your bus.”
Banks are also struggling to get systems working properly again. Supermarkets and retailers in the United Kingdom and elsewhere are unable to process electronic payments.
CrowdStrike says it has a fix and is currently working to make it available to all impacted users.
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