Flights Grounded Millions Hit by Tech Meltdown

A massive technical outage at Microsoft has disrupted services globally, causing flights to be grounded and affecting millions. In India, major airlines like IndiGo, Vistara, and SpiceJet are facing significant challenges with bookings and check-ins, leading to manual processes at airports. The ripple effect extends to supermarkets and emergency services, highlighting the widespread impact of this tech meltdown, as affected organizations work to resolve the issues and restore normal operations.

Microsoft Outage Grounds Flights in India

A widespread outage at Microsoft is causing major disruptions across various sectors, including airlines, supermarkets, and banking operations. In India, nearly all airlines—such as Vistara, IndiGo, SpiceJet, and Akasa Air—are facing technical difficulties that affect bookings, check-ins, and flight updates, leading to the implementation of manual check-in procedures for passengers.

SpiceJet announced via X that they are experiencing technical problems with flight disruption updates and are actively working on a solution. They apologized for any inconvenience caused and assured passengers they would be informed once the issue is resolved.

Similarly, Akasa Air stated that some of their online services are temporarily unavailable due to infrastructure issues with their service provider. They are requesting passengers with immediate travel plans to arrive early for check-in as they revert to manual processes.

IndiGo confirmed that their systems are impacted by the Microsoft outage, affecting various services such as booking, check-in, and access to boarding passes. They thanked passengers for their patience during this disruption.

Vistara also reported technical difficulties related to the global outage and is working to resolve the issues as quickly as possible while expressing regret for the inconvenience.

Delhi Airport acknowledged that some of its services were temporarily impacted by the global IT issue and advised passengers to contact their airlines or the help desk for updated flight information.

Global Impact of Microsoft Outage

The outage is not only affecting India but has also led to disruptions at Bengaluru airport, with the exact number of delayed flights yet to be determined. Australia has been severely affected, with reports of Woolworths supermarkets experiencing checkout system failures and police systems being impacted.

In Melbourne, the airport announced that check-in processes for several airlines were disrupted due to the global technology issue, with Virgin Australia grounding all flights in and out of Sydney Airport.

The London Stock Exchange has also felt the effects of the outage, while in the US, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights for major airlines like Delta, United, and American Airlines due to communication issues. 911 emergency services in multiple states have also been disrupted, and British news channel Sky News has been off the air for several hours.

In Europe, Amsterdam airport is experiencing check-in delays, while Berlin Brandenburg airport has canceled all flight operations due to the technical problem, and Zurich airport has suspended all flight arrivals.

Millions of Windows users worldwide are facing the Blue Screen of Death, resulting in unexpected shutdowns and restarts of their computers, leading to loss of unsaved data. Microsoft 365 has acknowledged the situation and is investigating the issue.