Day After Global IT Failure, Centre Shares Update As Airports Recover

Airports across India are still dealing with the fallout from yesterday's global Microsoft outage. While the situation has improved since Friday's chaos, passengers, especially at Delhi airport, continue to face issues.

At Terminal 3 of IGI Airport, conditions have slightly improved, but some problems remain. Yesterday, non-functional self-drop baggage and check-in machines led to long queues outside Gate No. 5.

Photo Credit: PTI

Today, many passengers can print their boarding passes, but international travelers still encounter difficulties, with some receiving manual passes inside the airport.

The Digi Yatra machines at Gates 1-3, which enable smooth entry, are still down, requiring manual entries. Display boards showing wait times, flight schedules, and other vital information, which were not working yesterday, are now operational. However, the overall system is not fully restored, as confirmed by airport officials.

Meanwhile, Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport is managing better than Delhi and Bengaluru. Despite long queues, operations are smoother today. Two flights, one to Varanasi and one to Kochi, were canceled this morning, and several international flights were rescheduled.

This is an improvement from yesterday when nine domestic flights, all operated by IndiGo, were canceled. IndiGo has warned of potential cancellations today but is optimistic that yesterday's disruptions won't recur as the Microsoft outage wasn't reported today.

The outage, caused by an update from global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, disrupted Microsoft's Windows systems worldwide, impacting financial institutions, airlines, hospitals, and media outlets.

In India, this crash of airline check-in systems led to delays and the cancellation of numerous flights, reported NDTV. IndiGo alone canceled around 200 flights, with many more delayed as manual check-in procedures slowed the process significantly.

The Indian financial sector faced minor disruptions at about ten banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), which have largely been resolved, according to the RBI. However, the outage severely impacted airports from Chennai to Delhi, with passengers facing long queues due to unavailable web check-in services and manual ticketing processes.

Airlines like IndiGo, Akasa Air, Vistara, Air India, SpiceJet, and Air India Express acknowledged the issues on social media. Passengers received handwritten boarding passes, and the manual ticketing and luggage check-in process took 30-40 minutes per person, causing frustration and crowded lounges.

High-density airports like Bengaluru and Chennai were also majorly affected.

At Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport, airlines such as IndiGo, Akasa, SpiceJet, and Air India Express conducted manual check-ins to minimise disruption. The technical glitch at Bengaluru airport has been fully resolved, and operations have returned to normal. However, there is slight congestion due to the lingering impact of yesterday's delays. The crowds will take a few hours to clear due to the backlog.

Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport saw 23 flight cancellations, including IndiGo flights to Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Ahmedabad, and Bengaluru.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu assured that the ministry and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) are managing the situation using manual methods to minimise disruption.

Minister for Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw confirmed that the cause of the outage had been identified and that updates were released to resolve the issue. According to the Aviation Ministry, systems at airports nationwide began operating normally from 3 am this morning.

"By noon today, we expect all issues to be resolved," the ministry said in a statement.

CrowdStrike confirmed the issue was due to a defect in a content update for Windows hosts and not a security incident or cyberattack.