Microsoft outage delays flights in Des Moines. What to know about flight issues today.

A global cyber outage has resulted in multiple airlines delaying or grounding flights Friday morning. This includes flights at the Des Moines International Airport.

Air passengers around the world faced delays, cancellations and problems checking in as airports and airlines were caught up in a massive IT outage .

When did flight delay issues start in Des Moines?

The Des Moines Airport Authority became aware of the issue around midnight.

Des Moines Airport systems are up and running again. They were down for about an hour, according to Sarah Hoodjer Communications and Air Service Development manager.

Des Moines International Airport is unable to determine which airline systems are running or down because they are separate from the airport's systems.

Why are flights delayed?

Several U.S. carriers, including American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines, issued ground stops for all their flights early on Friday due to communication problems, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

There were more than 500 flights canceled and more than 1,100 delays as of 5 a.m. CT, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware .

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement on X that it's "closely monitoring a technical issue impacting IT systems at U.S. airlines" and that several airlines "have requested FAA assistance with ground stops until the issue is resolved."

What airlines are delaying and canceling flights?

American Airlines acknowledged the technology issue that impacted carriers via a post on X around 3 a.m. Friday morning. Around 4 a.m. Central time, American Airlines said operations were re-established and apologized for any inconvenience it caused.

United also acknowledged the cyber outage resulting in delays around 5:30 a.m.

"A third-party outage is impacting computer systems, including at United and many other organizations worldwide," according to a post from United Airlines . "As we work to fully restore these systems, some flights are resuming. Many customers traveling today may experience delays."

Delta resumed some flights, according to the airline's social media.

Southwest was also impacted but operations were up by 5 a.m. making minimal disruptions Friday, Hoodjer said.

What flights are delayed or canceled in Des Moines?

As of 10:45 Friday morning, around eight outbound flights were delayed and four flights were canceled.

Three canceled flights are all from Delta, with one flight each to Atlanta, Detroit and Minneapolis canceled. Delta has also canceled flights from those cities to Des Moines. United also canceled one route between Des Moines and Chicago.

Some additional flights may be delayed or canceled, as not all airlines' flight tracking data is updating.

"There were at least six canceled flights on airlines out of Des Moines this morning, and many delays," Hoodjer told the Register. "We can’t confirm numbers because we don’t have full information coming to us from the airlines at this time. It seems they are still having some issues, so our information is not up to date."

How to check if my flight is delayed

The Des Moines International Airport has a website page that monitors scheduled flights and their status. Your individual airline's website and app should also provide updates. You may need to check multiple sources to find updated information from your airline.

Some airlines have also created waiver forms for customers to report issues and proactively rearrange their travel. The waivers can be found by visiting the airlines' social media accounts or websites.

What has caused the cyber outage?

The cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike confirmed that an update had a defect in it that impacted Microsoft's Windows operating system, resulting in outages for media companies, banks, medical facilities and telecom firms around the world, according to USA TODAY .

The cyber outage is not the result of a security breach, according to a post on X from CrowdStrike's CEO George Kurtz.

"The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed," Kurtz said. "We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website. We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers."

Iowa state government systems impacted by Microsoft outage.

Some state government systems and employee devices have been impacted. The state of Iowa uses CrowdStrike for malware and virus protection, according to a news release from the governor's office.

After the security center identified a CrowdStrike error in the early hours of Friday, the team applied multiple fixes to limit the outage to approximately 1,400 servers and 3,300 workstations. This is less than 20% of all devices across the executive branch.

IT staff for the state are working to restore all systems and devices. The system is expected to be fully restored sometime over the weekend.

Reporting contributed by USA TODAY'S Kim Hjelmgaard and Christopher Cann.

Kate Kealey is a general assignment reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach her at kkealey@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter at @ Kkealey17 .

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Microsoft outage delays flights in Des Moines. What to know about flight issues today.