Global Microsoft Outage Grounds Flights In India And Around The World

On Friday, July 19, many computer users worldwide were met with a rude awakening. As they turned on their laptops in the morning, they encountered glitches and malfunctions. What initially seemed like isolated computer issues quickly snowballed into a major event: a global Microsoft outage.

This disruption wasn't just an annoyance; it significantly impacted various industries, particularly aviation. With Microsoft's cloud services crippled, flights around the world faced cancellations and delays, including those in India. Several airlines were affected, leading to grounded planes and major disruptions at airports like Delhi and Mumbai.

Delhi Airport posted on X that the global IT outage temporarily impacted some of its services. "We are closely working with all our stakeholders to minimise the inconvenience to our flyers," the airport said.

What Did The Airlines Say?

Mumbai headquartered Akasa Airlines announced that some of its online services will be temporarily unavailable at the Mumbai and Delhi airports. " Due to infrastructure issues with our service provider, some of our online services, including booking, check-in, and manage booking services, will be temporarily unavailable," the airline said,

"Currently, we are following manual check-in and boarding processes at the airports and request passengers with immediate travel plans to reach the airport early to check in at our counters. We sincerely regret the inconvenience and want to assure you that our teams are working with our service provider to resolve the same as soon as possible," it added.

Spicejet, headquartered in Gurgaon, said, "We're currently facing a technical issue in providing updates on flight disruptions. Our team is actively working to resolve this issue. We regret any inconvenience and will update you once the issue is resolved. Thank you for your patience and cooperation."

Meanwhile, flight operator IndiGo said, "Our systems across the network are impacted by an ongoing issue with Microsoft Azure, which has resulted in increased wait times at our contact centres and airports. You may experience slower check-ins and longer queues. We are all hands on deck and are working relentlessly to restore stability and normalcy. Our digital team is also coordinating closely with Microsoft Azure to resolve these issues swiftly. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time."

Aviation Operations Effected Around The World

Frontier Airlines faced a significant disruption in the US, grounding flights for over two hours due to issues with Microsoft's services. The carrier later resumed operations and lifted the nationwide pause on departures. The outage also affected reservations and bookings. Similarly, Allegiant Air experienced disruptions and reported issues with reservations and bookings and is working on resolving these problems. Sun Country Airlines Holdings Inc. reported a "global outage" as well.

(With inputs from multiple news agencies)