Airline Systems Across Airports 'Working Normally', Says Civil Aviation Minister A Day After Microsoft Outage

Union Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said on Saturday (July 20) that airline systems across airports have started working normally and issues following global Microsoft outage are likely to get resolved by noon.

"Since 3 AM (Saturday), Airline systems across airports have started working normally. Flight operations are going smoothly now," Naidu said in a statement.

Thge latest statement from the minister has come a day after a global outage in Microsoft's systems triggered by a software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The biggest-ever IT outage hit functions in financial sector companies, airlines, hospitals, TV channels and more.

Airports across the world were witness to chaos as operators had to carry out processes like boarding in maual mode. Online passenger booking and reservation was affected as well.

Hundreds of flights were delayed and many were cancelled.

Statement from the aviation minister admitted that flight disruptions on Friday had created a backlog on Saturday.

Press Trust of India reported citing sources that reservation and check-in systems of most of the airlines, including Akasa, SpiceJet, IndiGo and Air India Express were now operational.

"The global outage that led to operational difficulties is nearly resolved, and our teams have made significant progress in restoring normal operations. However, customers may still experience delays and schedule disruptions over the weekend," budget carrier IndiGo said.

IndiGo is biggest carrier by market share in domestic aviation. It operates over 2000 flights daily. But on Friday, it was forced to cancelled around 200 flights.

(With inputs from agencies)