Microsoft Outage: Airline Systems at Airports Operating Normally, Says Civil Aviation Ministry After Microsoft Outage Disrupted Flights

Following a massive Microsoft outage that grounded flights, disrupted banks and hospital systems, and took media houses offline globally on Friday, the Civil Aviation Ministry announced that airline systems at airports have been functioning normally since 3 am Saturday. The Ministry also stated that all issues, including backlogs, are expected to be resolved by noon today.

According to a statement posted on X by Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, ‘Since 3 am this morning, airline systems across airports have been functioning normally. Flight operations are running smoothly now. While there is a backlog due to yesterday’s disruptions, it is being cleared gradually. We expect all issues to be resolved by noon today.

#Update on #MicrosoftGlobalOutage pic.twitter.com/ujZCnosPdB

— Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu (@RamMNK) July 20, 2024

The Microsoft outage on Friday disrupted operations at airports across the country, resulting in widespread flight cancellations.

The Civil Aviation Ministry update stated, “We are continuously monitoring airport operations and working with airlines to ensure travel adjustments and refunds are handled. We appreciate your patience.”

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike clarified that the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack, but resulted from a faulty update deployed to computers running Microsoft Windows.

In India, the outage severely disrupted airport and airline operations nationwide, leading to widespread flight cancellations. IndiGo, which has the largest share of domestic passenger traffic, alone cancelled 287 flights.

In addition, hundreds of flights were significantly delayed across various airlines’ networks due to the outage, which reportedly began at 10:40 am.