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India: Passengers share handwritten tickets as global cyber outage delays flights

Additional measures include enhanced communication by sending regular updates on flight statuses to passengers, increased support staff

Published: Fri 19 Jul 2024, 5:59 PM

Updated: Sat 20 Jul 2024, 11:55 AM

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  • ANI

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Photo: Twitter

Photo: Twitter

Following a global outage affecting some services of Microsoft's cloud solutions, airports across India are experiencing unexpected flight delays. Passengers at different airports have shared their experiences on social media, posting images of handwritten boarding passes issued due to the disruption.

Suvojit Mukherjee, a passenger at Deoghar Airport in Jharkhand, posted on X, "Today's Microsoft / CrowdStrike outage has grounded most airports in India. Received my first handwritten boarding pass today. A stark reminder of the risks of digital dependency," along with a photo of his manual ticket.

"Handwritten Boarding pass as worldwide Microsoft outage today!! Airlines reporting issues across airports and countries," Rachit, another flyer at Biju Patnaik Airport in Odisha posted on X.

Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Rammohan Naidu, assured travellers that his Ministry and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) are managing the situation with manual methods to minimise disruption.

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Minister Naidu stated, "I have directed airport authorities and airlines to be compassionate and provide extra seating, water, and food for passengers affected by delays. We understand your concerns and are working tirelessly to ensure your safe and swift travel. Your patience and cooperation are greatly appreciated."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviation along with AAI has implemented manual backup systems to maintain operational continuity. Passengers are advised to cooperate with airport staff during this period of disruption.

Aviation Minister Naidu emphasized the Ministry's commitment to minimizing inconvenience and ensuring the well-being of all travellers.

Minister Naidu further stressed the importance of maintaining communication with passengers and said, "We have instructed all airlines and airport authorities to keep passengers informed about their flight status and provide necessary assistance."

Additional measures include enhanced communication by sending regular updates on flight statuses to passengers, increased support staff, and amenities provision (airports are offering additional seating, water, and food to ensure passenger comfort).

After Microsoft reported a disruption in certain cloud services, the central government is in touch with Microsoft and its associates regarding the global outage.

Meanwhile, all airlines in India reported that their systems across the network are impacted by the ongoing outage in Microsoft Azure. Flyers were advised to reach out to their respective airlines for information on the flights.

Indigo's flight cancellation list showed as many as about 190 flights have been cancelled from 3.30pm IST today to 5.20am IST Saturday.

Microsoft Azure, or just Azure, is the cloud computing platform developed by Microsoft. It offers management, access, and development of applications and services to individuals, companies, and governments.

Exact details, including number of flights or passengers affected due to the disruption in services, were not available immediately.

Microsoft meanwhile said they were investigating the issue impacting users' ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.

"We're working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more expedient fashion. Our services are still seeing continuous improvements while we continue to take mitigation action," Microsoft said in its latest update.

CrowdStrike, the security firm linked to a software update, that caused the outage said that the issue has been isolated and a fix deployed.

George Kurtz, President and CEO of CrowdStrike said the cybersecurity company was working with customers on the issues faced by them while giving a reassurance that the issue was "not a security incident or cyberattack."

"CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, and isolated and a fix has been deployed. 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," Kurtz said.

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