 "Microsoft global outage grounds Air India, Indigo, Vistara, SpiceJet, Akasa flights; airports screens go blue")
IndiGo, Air India, Vistara, SpiceJet, Akasa Air, almost all the Indian carriers have complained of being massively impacted by Microsoft global outage that has lead to grounding, delaying of flights and booking tickets and check-ins online as well as at airports.
The glitch was a result of a major disruption in Microsoft’s cloud services that has led to flight delays and cancellation in India and several other parts of the world.
In India, Delhi and Mumbai airports have been facing trouble due to this disruption.
Screens at airports go blue
Displays at airports (showing arrival and departure status of flights) and the laptops/computers used by airline staff, since early Friday hours, have been showing blue screen error.
As per official Microsoft blog post, blue screen errors occur when there are serious problems that cause Windows to shut down or restart immediately.
What may cause these errors? It may be either due to software or hardware problems.
However, Crowdstrike says the problem on Friday (July 19) in Windows is due to an update rolled out by Microsoft.
“CrowdStrike is aware of reports of crashes on Windows hosts related to the Falcon Sensor… Symptoms include hosts experiencing a bugcheck\blue screen error related to the Falcon Sensor. Our Engineering teams are actively working to resolve this issue and there is no need to open a support ticket.” the company said.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsMeITY in touch with Microsoft
The Ministry of Electronics and Information and Technology (MEITY), meanwhile, said that it is in touch with Microsoft regarding the global outage.
“The reason for this outage has been identified and updates have been released to resolve the issue. CERT is issuing a technical advisory. NIC network is not affected,” the Ministry added.
MEITY is in touch with Microsoft and its associates regarding the global outage.
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) July 19, 2024
The reason for this outage has been identified and updates have been released to resolve the issue.
CERT is issuing a technical advisory.
NIC network is not affected.
How Indian carriers are affected by Microsoft outage?
In a post on X, IndiGo said: “Our systems are currently impacted by a Microsoft outage, which is also affecting other companies. During this time booking, check-in, access to your boarding pass, and some flights may be impacted. We appreciate your patience.”
Our systems are currently impacted by a Microsoft outage, which is also affecting other companies. During this time booking, check-in, access to your boarding pass, and some flights may be impacted. We appreciate your patience.
— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) July 19, 2024
Air India said its digital systems have also been impacted due to the current Microsoft outage which has been resulting in delays.
Vistara too has complained of experiencing “technical” challenges across various aspects of its operation due to the global outage.
SpiceJet, which is also facing the glitch, said, “We’re currently facing a technical issue in providing updates on flight disruptions.”
The budget airline further said that its team is “actively” working to resolve this issue.
“We regret for any inconvenience caused and will update you once the issue is resolved,” the SpiceJet post read.
#ImportantUpdate: We're currently facing a technical issue in providing updates on flight disruptions. Our team is actively working to resolve this issue. We regret for any inconvenience caused and will update you once the issue is resolved. Thank you for your patience and…
— SpiceJet (@flyspicejet) July 19, 2024
Akasa Air, meanwhile, said, “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.”
Also Read: Indian sky full of foreign airlines as Microsoft outage grounds most local ones
“Currently we are following manual check-in and boarding processes at the airports and hence request passengers with immediate travel plans to reach the airport early to check-in at our counters,” the airline said.
#TravelUpdate: 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. Currently we are following manual check-in and boarding processes at the airports and hence…
— Akasa Air (@AkasaAir) July 19, 2024
Delhi airport also in a post said, “Due to the global IT issue, some of the services at the Delhi Airport were temporarily impacted. We are closely working with all our stakeholders to minimise the inconvenience to our flyers.”
Due to the global IT issue, some of the services at the Delhi Airport were temporarily impacted.
— Delhi Airport (@DelhiAirport) July 19, 2024
We are closely working with all our stakeholders to minimise the inconvenience to our flyers.
The Delhi airport has also requested passengers to be in touch with the airline concerned or the help desk on ground for updated flight information.
What is Microsoft saying about the global outage?
Microsoft said that it is “investigating an issue impacting users ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.”
The tech giant also said that it is working on “rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more expedient fashion.”
In its latest post on X, Microsoft said: “Multiple services are continuing to see improvements in availability as our mitigation actions progress.”
Multiple services are continuing to see improvements in availability as our mitigation actions progress. More details can be found within the admin center under MO821132 and on https://t.co/uSHwRmYdzx
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) July 19, 2024
What is Microsoft outage that is grounding planes?
Microsoft said its outage started around 6 pm ET with a subset of its customers experiencing issues with multiple Azure services in the Central US region.
Late on Thursday, Microsoft informed its customers in the Central US regions may experience issues with multiple Azure services and its Microsoft 365 suite of apps.
This could include “failures with service management operations and connectivity or availability of services,” the US tech giant said.
Various Microsoft 365 services were impacted, including Teams.
This Microsoft outage has grounded some of the airlines with several aviation companies complaining of their systems being impacted.
In the US, Frontier Airlines services were significantly impacted as the carrier had to ground its flights for over two hours due to issues with Microsoft’s services.
Sun Country Airlines Holdings Inc also reported a “global outage”.
With inputs from agencies
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