NEW YORK, July 19 (Xinhua) — Multiple U.S. airlines said their flights were delayed or canceled on Friday due to technical issues involving cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike and Microsoft.
More than ten airports in the United States experienced significant flight delays as of Friday afternoon, according to flight tracking platform Flight Aware.
John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport in New York City, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport had nearly three hours of delays for inbound flights, shows data from Flight Aware at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (0800 GMT) on Friday.
Departure delays eased at around ten U.S. airports with waiting time of less than one hour in the afternoon.
According to Flight Aware, Over 8,000 flights were delayed and more than 2,500 flights were canceled across the United States as of 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Global total flight delays and cancellations reached as many as 36,627 and 4,122, respectively, data shows.
Troy Hunt, a cybersecurity researcher behind the popular password-breach monitoring service HaveIBeenPwned, labeled the ongoing global tech disruption as “the largest IT outage in history.”
“A third-party software outage impacted computer systems worldwide, including at United. We are resuming some flights but expect schedule disruptions to continue throughout the day,” said an update from United Airlines.
At the Terminal 2 of Chicago O’Hare International Airport, the flight information display system at the counter of United Airlines had a blue screen with lines reading “Recovery,” and “It looks like Windows didn’t load correctly.”
Peter Samet and his wife, en route to Portland, Oregon from Cleveland, Ohio, were stuck in the Chicago airport as their flight was delayed in the morning and then cancelled.
The couple, who planned to attend a wedding ceremony, instead, joined a number of travelers at the airport in the hope of rebooking flights.
“If we can’t get tickets on Friday, we would miss the wedding ceremony. In that case, we would have to cancel the trip and go back to Cleveland,” said Samet.
Other major airlines, including American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, faced similar technical problems.
“Our flights have resumed and we’re working diligently to minimize disruptions,” American Airlines said in a statement.
Delta said it has resumed some flight departures after a vendor technology issue impacted several airlines and businesses around the world.
“That issue necessitated a pause in Delta’s global flight schedule this morning, while it was addressed,” said Delta, noting additional delays and cancellations were expected on Friday.
More than 1,200 Delta mainline and Delta Connection flights were canceled, said the company in a notice on Friday afternoon.
“Additional delays and cancellations are expected Friday and potentially through the weekend,” added Delta.
Multiple airlines offered travel waivers allowing travelers to change flights without extra fees.
