A worldwide Microsoft outage is causing significant disruptions across various sectors, from flights and supermarkets to banking operations. This outage poses the risk of severe problems if not resolved promptly. In India, nearly all airlines, including Vistara, IndiGo, SpiceJet, and Akasa Air, are experiencing technical difficulties impacting bookings, check-ins, and flight updates, resulting in the manual check-in of passengers.

“We are currently experiencing a technical problem with providing flight disruption updates. Our team is actively working on a solution. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and will inform you once the issue is resolved. Thank you for your patience and cooperation,” SpiceJet announced in a post on X.

 

Akasa Air announced that some of their online services are temporarily unavailable due to infrastructure issues with their service provider. “As a result, booking, check-in, and manage booking services are currently affected. We are now using manual check-in and boarding processes at airports and request passengers with immediate travel plans to arrive early for check-in at our counters,” Akasa Air posted on X.

 

IndiGo has issued a statement saying, “Our systems are currently affected by a Microsoft outage, impacting other companies as well. This disruption affects booking, check-in, access to boarding passes, and some flights. We appreciate your patience.”

Vistara also reported technical difficulties, stating, “We are experiencing technical challenges across various aspects of our operations due to a global outage at our service provider’s end. We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We regret any inconvenience and appreciate your patience,” in a post on X.

Delhi Airport acknowledged that some services were impacted. “Due to the global IT issue, some services at Delhi Airport were temporarily affected. We are working closely with all stakeholders to minimize inconvenience to flyers. Passengers are advised to contact the relevant airline or the help desk for updated flight information. We regret any inconvenience caused,” the statement read.

 

Systems are also down at Bengaluru airport, with the exact number of delayed flights still unknown. Australia is among the hardest-hit countries. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the outage has disrupted ABC News 24, which struggled to broadcast news packages. Woolworths supermarkets experienced checkout system crashes, and many customers reported issues with their cards not working. Police systems were also affected.

Melbourne airport stated that the check-in process for several airlines is impacted by a global technology issue. Virgin Australia announced that the outage has caused a complete ground stop at Sydney Airport, preventing all planes from arriving or departing. “The airline has halted all flights in and out, so there’s no traffic coming or going,” said a staff member at the Virgin Australia lounge, as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald.

Reports indicate that the London Stock Exchange has been affected by the outage. In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights from major airlines, including Delta, United, and American Airlines, on Friday morning due to a communication issue. 911 emergency services in several US states have also been disrupted. British news channel Sky News has been off air for hours.

 

In Europe, technical issues are causing check-in delays at Amsterdam airport. Berlin Brandenburg airport in Germany has had to cancel flight operations due to the “technical problem,” with no clear indication of when they will resume, according to a spokeswoman. Zurich airport, the largest in Switzerland, has suspended all flight arrivals due to the tech outage, as reported by AFP.

Millions of Windows users worldwide are encountering the Blue Screen of Death, causing their computers to shut down or restart. In some cases, computers are repeatedly restarting, leading to service disruptions as users lose unsaved data and valuable time. When the systems shut down, a message appears saying, “Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We’re just collecting some error info, and then we’ll restart for you.”

Microsoft 365 has issued a statement saying they are investigating the issue.