Major global IT outage hits airlines, banks, media outlets

An outage of IT systems worldwide has affected businesses, including banks, airlines, telecommunications companies, media broadcasters, supermarkets, and hospitals.

The outage on Friday has caused massive disruption to a wide range of services and operations in various countries including the United States, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Germany.

The United States

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said all flights of several American airlines, including Delta, United and American Airlines, were grounded due to a communication issue.

The “ground stop” impacts all flights regardless of their destination, it added.

Australia

Meanwhile, Australian airlines Virgin Australia and Qantas Airways reported tech disruptions.

In an X post, Sydney Airport said that “a global technical outage has impacted some airline operations and terminal services,” adding that flight arrivals and departures continued, with some delays possible throughout the evening.

The airport also noted that it had activated contingency plans and deployed additional staff to terminals.

Similarly, Melbourne Airport said that it is experiencing a global technology issue which is impacting check-in procedures for some airlines.

Downdetector, a website that tracks cyber outages, reported impacts to Australian banking and telecommunication institutions.

Australia’s National Cyber Security Coordinator announced that it was “aware of a large-scale technical outage,” stressing, “There is no information to suggest it is a cyber security incident.”

Additionally, Australian supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles reported disruptions to their operations.

Australia’s national broadcaster ABC said it was “experiencing a major network outage, along with several other media outlets.”

New Zealand

In New Zealand, Christchurch International Airport said in an X post that it is experiencing IT issues across a number of systems “which may affect flight arrivals and departures.”

A spokesperson for New Zealand's parliament said the legislature’s computer network is having problems.

Germany

Flights were suspended at Germany’s Berlin Airport due to a "technical problem", according to a spokeswoman.

"There are delays to check-in, and flight operations had to be cancelled until 10:00 am (0800 GMT)," the spokeswoman told AFP, adding that she could not say when they would resume.

Britain

Sky News, a major television news channel in the UK, reported being off air on Friday morning.

The London Stock Exchange said its news service is experiencing “a third-party global technical issue” that prevented news from being published on its website. 

Furthermore, National Rail, the UK's rail network operator, reported a “network wide IT issue affecting a number of train operators services” during Friday’s rush hour. 

In a post on its website, National Rail warned commuters to expect delays and cancellations.

Some reports have blamed the global outage on a security update from US group CrowdStrike, which caused a problem with Microsoft’s Windows.

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