CrowdStrike outage causes spike in private air charter bookings

Leading aircraft charter specialist Air Charter Service reported a significant increase in private aircraft charters on Friday, following an IT outage linked to cybersecurity software company CrowdStrike. The disruption led to numerous airline flight cancellations, prompting travelers to seek alternative means of transport.

"Figures from flight data analysis specialist WingX show more than a 10% increase in private flights from Europe and the U.S. on Friday, compared to the same day last year, which is significantly ahead of the year-on-year figures for July so far," said Air Charter Service director Joe Gallimore. "We had a real surge of activity on Friday, with bookings even still coming in on Sunday."

Gallimore noted that their U.S. offices experienced particularly high demand. "Our Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Washington offices all booked multiple flights for clients that either didn’t want to miss out on their holidays or had to be at an all-important meeting that day," he added.