Microsoft Outage Disrupts Flights Nationwide: Normalcy Restored, Reports Minister

A Microsoft outage disrupted flight operations nationwide, causing delays and inconveniences. Union Minister Murlidhar Mohol confirmed flight schedules are back to normal. Passengers faced chaos, particularly at Mumbai and Chennai airports. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team issued an advisory addressing the issue.

In the wake of a significant Microsoft outage that disrupted flight operations across the country, Union Minister of State Murlidhar Mohol assured on Saturday that normalcy has returned and passengers are no longer facing issues. Mohol confirmed that flight schedules are being adhered to as usual.

Speaking to ANI, Mohol stated, "Today, the Microsoft issue has been resolved. Flight schedules nationwide are now back to normal, and passengers are not facing trouble. The DGCA affirmed that flight operations have resumed normally. Despite yesterday's system collapse, the situation is now under control."

However, passengers at various airports continued to experience problems for the second day. In Mumbai, travelers faced significant delays. One passenger reported, "I was traveling from Mumbai to Bengaluru yesterday, and the flight got canceled. We waited all night without sleep."

In Chennai, flight disruptions due to a blue screen error persisted. Prabakaran, a passenger en route to the Maldives, expressed frustration, saying, "Due to the canceled flight, I have to wait until tomorrow and I am uncertain about accommodations and my job permit."

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) released an advisory (CIAD-2024-0035) addressing the outage. The technical glitch impacted various sectors including airlines, banks, and news organizations. According to CERT-In, the outage affected system availability but had a lesser impact in India compared to Western countries.

Notably, the global outage caused significant delays in flights worldwide, highlighting vulnerabilities in critical systems.

(With inputs from agencies.)