Multiple airports and airline operations on Friday faced major disruptions across the country due to outages of Microsoft Window cloud service. Several airports suspended operations as services like bookings, check-in and boarding process including issuance of boarding passes were carried out manually, thereby taking longer than expected time and leading to long queues at airports. It caused chaos for several low-cost airlines, posing security concerns.
The outage hit booking and check-in services of several airlines, including Air India, IndiGo, Akasa Airlines and SpiceJet. Flyers have been advised to get to the airport well in advance, as manual check-ins take more time. They have also been urged to carry dry food items and water in case the wait stretches.
Airlines are posting updates on their social media handles to warn passengers about delays.
Advising passengers to cooperate with airport staff during this period of disruption, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) said it is "committed" to minimising inconvenience and ensuring well-being of all travellers.
The airports and airline operations, whose systems were based on Microsoft, faced significant disruptions since about 10.40 am on Friday. IndiGo, SpiceJet , Air India and Akasa saw disruptions in their online check-in and boarding processes across their networks, forcing them to switch to manual mode.
Airlines are facing issues in making fresh bookings; urging passengers not to make multiple bookings for a journey and urging them not to contact call centres — which are facing tremendous call volumes due to flight delays — unless their flight is scheduled to depart in 24 hours.
Union Minister for Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu said his Ministry and Airports Authority of India (AAI) are actively managing the situation arising out of a global Microsoft outage, which severely impacted airport and airline operations in the country. The Civil Aviation Ministry in collaboration with AAI has implemented manual backup systems to maintain operational continuity, Naidu said in a statement.
According to officials, the country's key airports, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai, are crippled due to the massive tech outage. Delhi airport said some of its services have been impacted and it is working to minimise the inconvenience to fliers. Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport reported an average delay of 51 minutes, Delhi's IGI Airport saw its services being delayed by nearly 40 minutes.
At Bengaluru, 90 per cent of flights operating out of Terminal 1 have been impacted and airlines are using manual methods to check passengers in. As many as 160 flights were affected in Hyderabad airport.
As check-in is being done manually, passengers were asked to report to airports well in advance — about three hours (even for domestic flights), to factor in the slow processes. While so far there was no flight cancellation here and flights were delayed as check-in was being done manually. DGCA has asked airlines to inform passengers about delays as much as possible given the technical challenges being faced.
Most airlines took to social media platforms to share the update with fliers. Air India said its "digital systems have been impacted temporarily due to the current Microsoft outage, resulting in delays". IndiGo warned that check-ins "may be slower and queues longer".
The low-cost carrier also said the option to rebook a flight or claim a refund is temporarily unavailable. SpiceJet said it is working closely with authorities to minimise disruptions. Akasa Air said its online services have been affected. Vistara, too, said it is facing technical challenges and is working to fix it at the earliest.
Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport saw as many as 23 flights -- 12 departures and 11 arrivals -- including Indigo's flights to Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru being cancelled.
"We are closely working with all our stakeholders to minimise the inconvenience to our flyers. You may please get in touch with the airline concerned for updates on your flight information. We thank you for your support and understanding," the airport, run by GMR, said in a post on social media platform.
In Bengaluru, Indigo, Air India Express, SpiceJet and Akasa issued handwritten boarding passes. Passengers complained of harrowing time following the disruption in flight services and were seen anxiously waiting for their delayed flights. The lounge of the KIA was overcrowded due to the disruption in flight services.
"A global outage with the Navitaire Departure Control System (NDCS) has been affecting operations of some airlines across their network, including BLR Airport since 10.40 IST on July 19, 2024," a Bangalore International Airport Ltd spokesperson said in a statement.
