Some 3,343 of today’s flights had been cancelled by 3pm this afternoon as airlines and airports around the world struggled to recover from an overnight IT glitch.
Data from aviation analysts Cirium showed that around 3% of all today’s scheduled flights failed to take off, and it warned the figure could change as the day progressed.
Meanwhile, tech experts are warning that flight disruption is likely to continue into the weekend.
The technical hitch is understood to have been caused by an update to the global Crowdstrike malware detection software, which led to some computers using Microsoft Windows to crash.
Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz has apologised, while Microsoft has suggested users need to turn their computers off and on again, up to 15 times.
However, cyber-security researcher Kevin Beaumont told the BBC this is ‘incredibly time consuming and will take organisations days to do at scale’.
Not Just Travel said it too was expecting a ‘knock-on effect’ over the next few days. “We are updating and supporting our travel consultants so that we can help those people at airports, in-resort, or who are planning to fly in the next few days,” said Head of Operations Laura Simpson.
“There will be a knock-on effect over the next few days regarding flights, as planes won’t be in the right places for departures. However, we will be on-hand and have brought staff in over the weekend to assist our customers.
Some airlines, including US carriers American Airlines, United and Delta Air Lines were forced to ground their entire fleets, but Delta said ‘some’ flights had resumed on Friday afternoon.
TUI is warning customers in resorts worldwide to check the situation at their departure airport. It has closed day before check-in while the issue continues.
If customers are in resort and need support with their inbound TUI flight, they should call +44 203 451 2688.
Ryanair is urging passengers whose flights have been cancelled to leave airports to avoid overcrowding.
It said in a statement: “Unfortunately, we’ve been forced to cancel a small number of flights today due to this global third-party IT outage.
“Affected passengers have been notified and are advised to log into their myRyanair account once systems are back online to see their options.
“A full list of cancellations is available at http://ryanair.com. If your flight has been cancelled, we kindly request that you leave the airport as the IT outage means we cannot currently assist passengers at the airport.
“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by this global third-party IT outage, and we are working hard to minimise disruption and keep passengers informed.”
In an update on Friday afternoon, Heathrow said ‘overall flights are departing/arriving smoothly’. It added: “We continue to work with our airport colleagues to minimise the impact of the global IT outage on passenger journeys. Flights continue to be operational and passengers are advised to check with their airlines for the latest flight information.”
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Data from aviation analysts Cirium showed that around 3% of all today’s scheduled flights failed to take off, and it warned the figure could change as the day progressed.
Meanwhile, tech experts are warning that flight disruption is likely to continue into the weekend.
The technical hitch is understood to have been caused by an update to the global Crowdstrike malware detection software, which led to some computers using Microsoft Windows to crash.
Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz has apologised, while Microsoft has suggested users need to turn their computers off and on again, up to 15 times.
However, cyber-security researcher Kevin Beaumont told the BBC this is ‘incredibly time consuming and will take organisations days to do at scale’.
Not Just Travel said it too was expecting a ‘knock-on effect’ over the next few days. “We are updating and supporting our travel consultants so that we can help those people at airports, in-resort, or who are planning to fly in the next few days,” said Head of Operations Laura Simpson.
“There will be a knock-on effect over the next few days regarding flights, as planes won’t be in the right places for departures. However, we will be on-hand and have brought staff in over the weekend to assist our customers.
Some airlines, including US carriers American Airlines, United and Delta Air Lines were forced to ground their entire fleets, but Delta said ‘some’ flights had resumed on Friday afternoon.
TUI is warning customers in resorts worldwide to check the situation at their departure airport. It has closed day before check-in while the issue continues.
If customers are in resort and need support with their inbound TUI flight, they should call +44 203 451 2688.
Ryanair is urging passengers whose flights have been cancelled to leave airports to avoid overcrowding.
It said in a statement: “Unfortunately, we’ve been forced to cancel a small number of flights today due to this global third-party IT outage.
“Affected passengers have been notified and are advised to log into their myRyanair account once systems are back online to see their options.
“A full list of cancellations is available at http://ryanair.com. If your flight has been cancelled, we kindly request that you leave the airport as the IT outage means we cannot currently assist passengers at the airport.
“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by this global third-party IT outage, and we are working hard to minimise disruption and keep passengers informed.”
In an update on Friday afternoon, Heathrow said ‘overall flights are departing/arriving smoothly’. It added: “We continue to work with our airport colleagues to minimise the impact of the global IT outage on passenger journeys. Flights continue to be operational and passengers are advised to check with their airlines for the latest flight information.”
The post More than 3,000 flights cancelled, disruption expected to continue for days appeared first on Travel Gossip.
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