- A Microsoft system failure caused the back-end IT systems of many airlines to go offline.
- The outage appears to have primarily affected the airline's reservations and scheduling systems.
- It will likely take a few days for airlines to fully recover.
Thousands of flights were cancelled or delayed across the country on Friday after a Microsoft outage took down many airlines' back-end IT systems.
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said an update to its software affected Microsoft's Windows operating system, which many airlines use for functions like reservations and flight schedules.
“Whenever new software is introduced, there is the possibility that bugs or errors can impact operating systems currently in use,” Tim Ehrenkaufer, assistant professor of aeronautical sciences at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said in an email to USA TODAY. “Ultimately, events like this serve as a valuable reminder for organizations to always back up their data in case a rollback is necessary. Technology can always have glitches, and these types of incidents are typically resolved quickly and without major or long-term impact.”
Which systems were affected?
The CrowdStrike outage appears to have primarily affected airline reservations and scheduling systems.
The aviation industry relies on a series of overlapping technologies, from flight-control software in the cockpit to tracking software in the Federal Aviation Administration's control towers.
The FAA and most airports haven't reported any outages, and airlines haven't suggested any problems with flight controls, but all of these systems need to work together to keep planes flying in sequence and on schedule.
The FAA said it issued ground orders to several airlines at the airlines' requests, forcing them to suspend departures while they dealt with the outages.
What happened to the air travel?
The outage appears to have mainly affected airlines' IT systems on the ground and not affected flights in the air, but a single system failure typically has a cascading effect on the aviation industry.
“Take a major airline, like one of the Big Four, and you often have a variety of IT systems in place for crew scheduling, aircraft maintenance, reservations, and the list goes on,” William J. McGee, senior fellow for air travel at the Project on American Economic Freedom, told USA TODAY. “I don't think the average passenger understands that there isn't one big system that controls everything. There are multiple systems, and one of them just stops working.”
What should affected passengers know?
It will likely take a few days for airlines to fully recover.
Southwest Airlines experienced an IT meltdown during the 2022-2023 winter break, and it took nearly 10 days for operations to return to full normal.
“Thunderstorms lasting 15 minutes can cause flight cancellations for up to 12 hours,” McGehee said. “We hope this will be resolved quickly, but we want to warn travellers to be prepared for the effects to linger as this could easily continue into Sunday if things stay on track and we don't see a second wave of thunderstorms.”
For travellers whose plans are affected, many airlines have issued waivers to allow them to rebook flights to a later travel date. The Department of Transport also classified the impact of Friday's suspension as “controllable” by airlines, meaning they are responsible for complying with their customer service obligations.
Pilot concerns
The Air Line Pilots Association has long maintained that technology should not replace human experience in aviation. It said Friday's accident shows the industry is not ready to reduce the number of pilots needed for commercial flights or move to fully autonomous operations, as some advocates have suggested.
“Today's global outage is a reminder that despite technological advances, redundancy must exist in our operational systems, especially in aviation. That's why the most important safety precaution on every air flight is having two well-trained and well-rested pilots in the cockpit,” ALPA Chairman Capt. Jason Ambrosi said in a statement. “Relying solely on technology and automation and removing pilots from the cockpit, as some have suggested, is going too far. While technological advances can help improve aviation safety, they can never replace an aircraft's pilot.”
Zach Wichter is a New York-based travel writer for USA TODAY. He can be reached at zwichter@usatoday.com.
