Over 1,400 flights in the United States have experienced delays and more than 350 have been canceled due to a widespread IT outage affecting multiple airlines. This has left countless passengers stranded at airports across the country on a busy summer travel day.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), and George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) were among the most severely impacted airports, according to FlightAware.
The IT issue, which began on Friday morning, was caused by a software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The update led to Windows “blue screen of death” errors on airline computers, resulting in one of the most extensive IT disruptions in recent memory.
Major U.S. carriers like American Airlines, Delta, and United had to ground flights due to communication issues, as reported by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Airports saw long queues forming as airlines lost access to check-in and booking services during the peak summer vacation season. Gate agents resorted to writing tickets by hand due to the system outage.
Hartsfield-Jackson, the busiest U.S. airport and a key Delta hub, experienced the most delays, with over 170 reported. Delta halted its global flight schedule causing at least 73 cancellations by midday.
O’Hare, another major airport for domestic and international flights, recorded over 131 delays and 29 cancellations.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport reported more than 100 delays and 24 cancellations due to the IT disruption.
Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in New York experienced over 109 delays and 10 cancellations, while George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston had nearly 100 delays and 17 cancellations, serving both domestic and international flights.
CrowdStrike addressed the issue and stated that it wasn’t a security incident or cyberattack, but rather a defect in a single Windows content update. The company has fixed the issue affecting Windows hosts, with Mac and Linux hosts remaining unaffected.
The outage also impacted banks, media outlets, hospitals, and various industries besides aviation. Even after CrowdStrike announced a gradual fix for access issues to Microsoft 365 apps and services, problems persisted for hours.
Microsoft acknowledged the disruptions on Friday morning and stated that Microsoft 365 for Consumers is now operational, following technical problems.
This is an evolving situation, and updates will be provided as new information emerges.