A global technical outage affecting Microsoft caused flights to be cancelled, broadcasters to go off air and had a “limited” impact on the Paris Olympics early on Friday.
The outage was blamed on a “flaw” in a software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which announced shortly before 6 a.m. EDT that the issue had been “identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”
“While the underlying cause has been resolved, residual effects continue to impact some Microsoft 365 apps and services,” Microsoft said in a post on social platform X. “We are implementing additional mitigation steps as a remedy.”
Here’s how businesses around the world were affected by the outage:
Flight
The outage caused chaos at airports around the world, with more than 3,000 flights canceled and over 27,000 delayed, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines grounded flights early Friday morning due to the issue.
The three major US airlines had some flights back up and running by mid-morning. American Airlines said in a post on X that it was “safely able to resume operations” as of 5 a.m.
Around 6:30 a.m., United Airlines warned on X that some flights had resumed while it worked to fully restore its systems, and passengers traveling Friday “may experience delays.” Shortly before 8 a.m., Delta Airlines said it had “resume[ed]some flights.”
hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital Brigham, a Boston-based health system, suspended all non-urgent appointments at its hospitals and clinics on Friday.
“A large number of our systems were impacted today due to a major global software outage,” the company said in a note on its website, “which means that our clinical systems, including patient health records and scheduling, are inaccessible.”
“We are available for urgent appointments and procedures and our emergency room remains open,” it added.
The National Health Service in England said the outage caused problems with booking and patient record systems, disrupting care for the “majority of general practitioners”.
“The NHS has had measures in place for many years to manage the disruption, including the use of paper patient records, handwritten prescriptions and the normal telephone system for contacting GPs,” it said in a statement.
Staff in some NHS hospitals were also “having to use manual paper processes to manage certain tasks” due to problems with the administration system, health officials said, but noted that in most hospitals “care is continuing as usual”.
Broadcaster
British news channel Sky News was unable to broadcast a live broadcast on Friday morning due to a power outage.
“Many of our news reports are still available online and we are working hard to restore all services,” Sky News Group chairman David Rose wrote to X at around 7 a.m. UK local time.
About an hour later, Rose said Sky News was “back to live television, albeit without full functionality”.
train
Washington DC Metrorail said in a post on X at about 5 a.m. EDT that its website and some internal systems were down because it was “impacted by a known issue affecting computer systems worldwide.”
The company warned passengers that trains were running late on all lines and bus times might also be delayed, but by 6 a.m. Metrorail said all stations were opening on time and services were running as scheduled.
New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) said in a note on its website that the outage had caused its “customer information systems to be temporarily offline” but that train and bus services were not affected.
Olympic
Paris Olympic organisers said the power outage, a week before the opening ceremony, had a “limited” impact on the Games.
The outage has not affected the ticketing system but has affected the provision of authentication.
“At present, the impact is limited, particularly as it relates to the delivery of uniforms and certificates. Our teams are working hard to ensure operational continuity at an optimal level,” the commission said in a statement.
Sky Sports New Zealand reporter Wilson Catton said he was unable to receive certification upon arrival in Paris on Friday. Reuters reported..
“They will not be able to issue any certificates for who knows how long,” he said, according to Reuters.
Other work relating to venue preparations is continuing as normal, the committee said.
Organisers said the technical issues had not affected Paris airport, which is a partner of the Paris Olympics, but the committee said the arrival of some delegations had been affected by flight delays.
“The Paris 2024 team is permanently present at the airport and the Olympic Village to welcome the delegations in the best possible conditions,” the committee said.
The torch relay will continue on its “normal” route and is due to get underway in the Val d’Oise department on Friday.
Emergency Services
Emergency services were halted in several locations across the United States due to power outages.
“Many 911 and non-emergency call centers across Alaska are not functioning properly,” the Alaska State Troopers said in a Facebook post around 2:30 a.m.
It listed several phone numbers that Alaskans could use in case of an emergency instead of calling 911. The latest update said that “911 had been restored” by around 4:30 a.m.
The Phoenix Police Department Post to X At about 5 a.m., it announced the power outage was affecting its computerized 911 dispatch center.
“Our 911 center remains operational,” the company said. “If you need to call 911, please do not hang up if you are placed on hold for a short time. The city’s IT department is working hard to find a workaround until power is restored.”
The police department said the system is now back up and running. Newer Posts Shortly before 9 a.m.
government
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (Democrat) declared a state of emergency early Friday after a Microsoft outage affected some of the city’s computers and servers, including the Office of Emergency Communications’ Computer Aided Dispatch System.
“After temporarily switching to manual call handling, the CAD system has been back up and running since 6 a.m. on Friday,” it said. City press release “There was no impact to the area’s ability to call 911,” he said.
The Maricopa County Elections Department in Arizona also announced that “some polling locations are experiencing power outages.” Post to X 11:00 a.m. Early voting for Arizona’s primary election begins July 3 and continues until Election Day on July 30.
The Social Security Administration closed its field offices Friday because of the power outages.
“Our phone lines remain open, and many online services at ssa.gov remain available,” the agency said in a note on its website. “We appreciate your patience as we work to restore service as quickly as possible.”
Updated 2:31 p.m.
