Microsoft outage delays airlines at Cherry Capital Airport

TRAVERSE CITY - Microsoft has experienced an outage worldwide impacting different services. One of which is flights. Cherry Capital Airport has its own experience.

Kevin Klein CEO of Cherry Capital Airport says, “At 4:00 this morning, we received notification that some of the airline tenants were having some computer problems. So with that, we immediately did an inventory of all airport systems. So make sure our safety and security systems were all intact and operating fine. Our next step then was to talk with the FAA to make sure all those systems were fine. And then the TSA. So once we knew the safety security systems of the airport were all intact and that we then started to learn that it wasn’t a cyber attack, it was a computer update.

The outage was traced back to Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity firm which is known for its advanced threat intelligence and endpoint protection. The outage was affecting the systems airlines use to check in passengers before boarding a flight, which caused delays.

Klein explained, “we’re starting to see the system get back to our working towards normal. But what we’ll see is that ripple effect, just like our flights were delayed starting now. Those other airplanes that we get later in the day will be delayed.”

Even thought operations at the Cherry Capital have not been affected, the airport is still working to get passengers on board. Even if they are behind.

Klein said, “we’ve been trying to help coordinate, get passengers to the right places so that when we did board that, they were all ready to go right when the airlines could get going.”

Passengers are scrambling to figure out their own plans as flight delays or bookings could take hours or days.

Heather Shapiro, a Delta Airlines Passenger says, “Well, flights are either delayed or canceled. We’re trying to rebook, but every time we try to, nothing’s working. And I have two babies in the car and I’ve no hotel room, so I’m trying to figure out where to go right now. So that’s why I have come to the airport and see if that’s not any further.”

One passenger we talked to found out about the outage during his flight. The pilot made sure to let the passengers know the plane was safe.

Darrell Grant, American Airlines Passenger said, “Our pilot got on and explained what the what the issue is. It’s it’s the communication with the plane to when they land to the tower and stuff is what they had issues about. So whether it’s true or not, he made us feel comfortable.”

Even though the update affected millions, its new features were intended to enhance security.