NEW DELHI: Airline systems across airports, which were severely impacted by a global IT outage on Friday, have now resumed normal operations, announced Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu.
“Since 3 AM last night, airline systems across airports have started working normally,” Naidu stated.
An update was released by the Minister of Civil Aviation on Saturday, July 20, it reads, “Flight operations are going smoothly now. There is a backlog because of disruptions yesterday, and it is getting cleared gradually. By noon today, we expect all issues to be resolved.”
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In addition to monitoring airport operations closely, the ministry is collaborating with airlines to ensure passengers’ travel readjustments and refunds are promptly addressed.
“We appreciate the patience shown by passengers during this challenging period,” the Minister concluded.
The global IT outage, primarily attributed to issues with Microsoft services, caused widespread disruptions across various sectors, including aviation. Airlines worldwide encountered difficulties in managing their operations due to the outage affecting critical systems.
Major Indian airlines such as IndiGo, SpiceJet, Air India, and Vistara also experienced significant disruptions. On Friday, IndiGo cancelled about 200 flights across India, citing the global system outage.
In contrast, Air India reported that none of its flights were cancelled on Saturday due to the worldwide travel systems outage.
The airline spokespersons stated, “We confirm that none of Air India’s flights on 19 July were cancelled due to the worldwide travel systems outage, although there were some delays caused by the impact of the outage on airport services. Air India’s own resilient IT infrastructure remained unaffected yesterday and continues to function normally.”
The breakdown was caused by a malfunctioning software update provided to Microsoft Windows users by CrowdStrike, a company specializing in cybersecurity for cloud-based platforms.
Microsoft’s Chairman and CEO addressed the issue on X (formerly Twitter), acknowledging, “CrowdStrike’s recent update has had a global impact on IT systems. We are actively collaborating with CrowdStrike and industry partners to assist our customers in the recovery process and ensure the secure restoration of their systems.”
Authorities are continuing to monitor the situation closely to prevent any further disruptions as normalcy returns to airport operations.