Planes grounded as mass worldwide IT outage hits airlines, media, banks » Capital News
T outages have been reported across the world, affecting airlines, media, and banks.
Many flights have been grounded, with queues and delays at airports.
In the UK, railway companies have reported delays and say they’re experiencing “widespread IT issues”
Sky News Executive chairman says they have not been able to broadcast live.
There have been reports suggesting that a cybersecurity company called Crowdstrike, which produces antivirus software, issued a software update that has gone horribly wrong and is bricking Windows devices – prompting the so-called “blue screen of death” on PCs.
The actual cause is not known – but Microsoft says it’s taking mitigation action.
Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport also affected
Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport is the latest to report delays caused by the IT outage.
“The outage has an impact on flights flying from and to Schiphol,” a spokesperson says, adding it is not yet clear how many flights are affected.
London Stock Exchange operating as normal
The London Stock Exchange says it’s working as normal – but says there are problems with its RNS (regulatory news service).
“RNS news service is currently experiencing a third party global technical issue, preventing news from being published on www.londonstockexchange.com,” the statement says.
“Technical teams are working to restore the service. Other services across the group, including London Stock Exchange, continue to operate as normal.”
Mild chaos at Sydney Airport
It has been an hour of uncertainty and mild chaos here at Sydney Airport.
First departure board information screens went blank – with at least one airline, Jetstar, announcing it could not check passengers in.
Its apology on the public address system firmly blamed Microsoft.
About half an hour later Virgin Australia said there had been a “total ground stop” with “no flights going in or out”.
But things do seem to moving again. Virgin Australia has started boarding flights (including mine) and so it looks like the skies above, Australia’s biggest city will soon be filled with aircraft again.
Not everyone is thrilled. In perhaps stereotypical Australian fashion, I overheard one passenger say he was a bit disappointed not to be squeezing in a couple of extra Friday night airport beers.
US airlines issue global ground stop on all flights
United, Delta and American Airlines – which are all based in the United States – have issued a “global ground stop” on all of their flights.
Flights that are currently airborne will continue, but no further flights will take off for now.
Ryanair warns of ‘potential disruptions across network’
Further from that post from Edinburgh, European airline Ryanair says it’s experiencing “potential disruptions across the network” – which it says is due to a third party outage.
The airline is advising that anyone travelling today should check the Ryanair app for updates on their flight.
Departure boards freeze at Edinburgh airport
Here at Edinburgh airport there’s been disruption to services as the computer error caused departure screens to malfunction. Departure boards in the main terminal building appeared to freeze, showing out-of-date information about gate numbers and take off times – meaning some passengers have missed their flights. Earlier this morning the fire alarm in the main terminal building sounded, thought to be have been triggered by the same computer error. Edinburgh airport said it was working to resolve the issue.
Australia telecommunications giant affected
Australia’s Telstra Group, a telecommunications company, says it is also facing disruption.
Replying to a post on X, external, formerly Twitter, the company said “global issues affecting CrowdStrike and Microsoft are disrupting some of our systems. The issue is causing some holdups for some of our customers and we thank you for your patience.”
Sky News is off air in the UK
In the UK, Sky News channel is off air due to the outages.
The channel has not been able to broadcast live this morning, the company’s executive chairman says.
As outages spread, Berlin airport reports delays due to ‘technical fault’
Several airports and airlines have reported issues with their IT systems.
Berlin airport posted on X, external that is experiencing delays to check-ins due to a “technical fault”.
In Spain, an “incident” has been reported at all of the country’s airports.
“We are working to solve it as soon as possible. Meanwhile, operations are continuing with manual systems,” the Spanish airport operator says.
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