Major U.S. air carriers, including Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and American Airlines, were forced to ground flights early Friday morning following a global IT outage affecting airports, banks, media companies, and other businesses around the world.
USA Today reported that more than 1,100 flights were canceled and more than 1,700 were delayed as of 8 a.m. ET, according to FlightAware data. Despite the disruption, most airlines resumed normal operations shortly after. However, travelers should be aware of residual impacts from the delays. In Europe, Lufthansa, Eurowings, and SAS also experienced issues with booking and their online check-in systems due to the outage.
The outage was traced back to an issue affecting Microsoft Windows programs using cybersecurity technology from CrowdStrike. In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said the company is working with customers to address the issue. “This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed,” Kurtz noted.