CrowdStrike outage grounds flights globally

The CrowdStrike outage that began early Friday morning has significantly impacted global air travel, grounding flights and causing widespread delays. The outage affected computers running Microsoft Windows, a critical component for airline operations.

Major U.S. airlines, including United, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines, stopped flight operations worldwide. FlightAware, a flight tracking service, reported that 7% of United Airlines flights, 8% of American Airlines flights, and 12% of Delta flights were canceled as of Friday morning. Comparatively, Thursday saw cancellations of 3%, 4%, and 1% for these airlines, respectively.

The total impact was substantial, with a total 4,548 flights canceled and 40,974 delays Friday. Total delays within, into, or out of the United States Friday amounted to 10,525. Cancellations within, into, or out of the United States totaled 2,884. However, not all of these disruptions were directly linked to the CrowdStrike outage.

Frontier Airlines, a U.S.-based low-cost carrier, was also affected but appeared to be resuming normal operations. Spirit Airlines faced challenges as well, particularly with their reservations system and flight operations. The airline posted on Facebook: “Due to the outage, we are currently unable to rebook Guests whose travel plans have been disrupted. We will assist these Guests as soon as possible when our vendor restores service.”

Globally, airlines such as Qantas, Air France, Ryanair, Air Asia, and Air India experienced communication issues. The FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center noted that all United Airlines flights were grounded due to a communication issue. The FAA continues to monitor the situation, providing assistance as needed.

Airports experienced varying levels of impact. At Los Angeles International Airport, Hollywood Burbank Airport and Long Beach Airport departing flights were temporarily grounded while John Wayne Airport saw sporadic delays and cancellations. Boston Logan Airport, Harry Reid Airport in Las Vegas, Milwaukee Mitchell International, Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport, and LaGuardia Airport in New York restricted transient general aviation traffic. Meanwhile, airports like Atlanta International, Detroit Metropolitan, and Minneapolis Saint-Paul experienced ground delays possibly linked to the outage.

Citi analyst Stephen Trent indicated that, given the outage was not the airlines’ fault, financial penalties for flight cancellations are unlikely. He stated, “Today’s disruption should not have a material earnings impact as long as significant improvements continue throughout the day.”

Public transit systems saw mixed impacts, with some apps for managing train times going down. The New York City public transit system, the MTA, remained operational despite its scheduling app being offline. Washington, D.C.’s Metro also experienced issues but maintained scheduled operations.

Other sectors, including retail, hospitals, brokerage houses, and media companies, were hit by the outage. The Los Angles and Long Beach ports also faced disruptions.

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz clarified that a defect in a software update for Windows hosts caused the outage and ruled out a cyberattack. He assured that the firm was rolling out a fix, adding that Mac and Linux hosts were not affected. The situation remains fluid as efforts to restore normalcy continue.