Global IT Outage: Flights Grounded, Businesses Stalled, Egypt Unaffected

(MENAFN- Daily News Egypt) A major IT outage affecting the Windows operating system has caused widespread disruption to businesses and services around the world. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike acknowledged Friday that a defective software update was responsible for the issue.

ContentsAirlines Grounded Broadcasting and Financial Services Hit by IT Outage Healthcare and Retail Disrupted Train Services Affected Egypt Unaffected

Thousands of workers were unable to access computers, while sectors from finance to healthcare were significantly impacted.

Airlines Grounded

The aviation industry was among the hardest hit. Numerous airlines, including Vueling, KLM, Ryanair, American Airlines, Delta, United, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Qantas, and Virgin Australia, experienced disruptions. Many flights were grounded or delayed due to issues with check-in and booking systems.

Amsterdam's Schiphol, London's Gatwick and Stansted, Tokyo-Narita, Delhi, and Dublin airports reported long queues as a result. Some airlines resorted to issuing handwritten tickets due to printing problems.

Broadcasting and Financial Services Hit by IT Outage

The media sector was also affected. Sky News experienced a broadcast interruption, and the RNS news service was unavailable, preventing news from being published on the London Stock Exchange website. Other broadcasters, including CBBC, CNEWS, TF1, and RTL, encountered technical difficulties.

Healthcare and Retail Disrupted

The outage impacted healthcare services, with the UK's National Health Service (NHS) and hospitals in Germany facing disruptions. The EMIS medical computer system, used by many GP practices, was down, affecting appointments and patient records.

Retailers also felt the impact of the IT Outage. Some UK supermarkets, including Morrison's and Waitrose, accepted only cash payments due to system failures. Australia's Woolworths also experienced issues.

Train Services Affected

Train services in the UK were disrupted by widespread IT problems, affecting operators such as Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express, and Great Northern.

Egypt Unaffected

While the outage caused chaos globally, Egypt's Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Minister of Communication confirmed that the country's services were unaffected by the global IT outage. Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly directed the formation of a crisis unit to assess potential impacts.

CrowdStrike said a fix had been deployed, and the issue was contained. Microsoft confirmed the company was communicating directly with clients.

As of Friday afternoon, some services were beginning to recover, but the full extent of the global disruption and its economic impact is still being assessed.

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