A massive IT glitch caused by a problem with Microsoft cloud computing services early Friday has disrupted major airlines, media organizations, businesses, and police forces worldwide.
Flights have been grounded in multiple countries, and stores and broadcasters have gone offline due to the outage affecting Windows PCs.
Major airlines, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines, issued ground stops Friday morning, citing communication issues. Delta announced a “global ground stop,” according to Rep. Eric Swalwell, a member of the House subcommittee on cybersecurity.
In Alaska, the State Troopers reported that 911 and non-emergency phone numbers across the state were not working “due to a nationwide technology-related outage” as of 2:20 a.m. (ET).
In Europe, Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport warned of delays in passenger check-ins “because of a technical fault.” Aena, managing 46 airports in Spain, also reported potential delays due to “an incident in the computer system.” Sydney Airport, one of Australia’s largest, also anticipated delays.
The Paris airport authority stated that while its systems remained unaffected ahead of next week’s Olympic Games opening ceremony, the situation impacted airline operations at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly airports, causing delays in check-ins and temporary suspension of some flights.
In the UK, train operators cited IT outages for cancellations on Friday morning, and the London Stock Exchange attributed a “3rd party global technical issue” for halting its regulatory news service from posting new items.
