The day aviation grounded itself: CrowdStrike has created an unprecedented crisis at global airports

It was initially thought to be a cyber attack. This was not unusual, given the extent of the computer problem. It was later discovered that the failure was actually due to a poorly implemented update.

Just a few minutes after the chaos began, it was confirmed that the source of the problem was in CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity solution for Windows. Media such as The Verge either BBC They quickly confirmed that we were facing a global problem related to an update in the cybersecurity system.

In The Verge They explained that during the blackout, the affected machines were forced to restart, entering a loop that prevents them from starting up again correctly. The impact has been such that all types of services in airports around the world have been affected. In Spain, AENA has suffered problems in the management of flights but also in facilities, such as parking.

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Thousands of passengers stranded and delays around the world

One of the most affected sectors has been air mobility.

The security update failure has stopped the computers airports around the world, causing chaos in check-in, access and, of course, departure of flights. It is expected that the unforeseen event will take hours to be resolved and operations to return to normal.

The problem occurs just when the airlines themselves were expecting record turnover due to the Increase in journeys this summer.

At this time, AENA has confirmed that its airports are trying to return to normality but they point out that the usual processes may take longer than expected. Therefore, it is advisable to arrive with enough time. It is the departure of flights that has had, and is having, the greatest impact on passengers.

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In Spain, Barajas airport in Madrid has suffered all kinds of disruptions, including a collapse in billing, which has been resolved in a hurry by collecting data by hand.

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In Barcelonaflight delays are also a constant. As we can see in the following image, some of them have accumulated several hours of delay and the situation is not expected to normalize in the next few hours.

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In the islandsthe collapse of airports is especially worrying. In Tenerifesome of the usual processes are experiencing significant delays. Images that are repeated in Gran Canaria either Lanzarote. At mallorcaThe images show the counters completely collapsed. In Menorca some of the processes are also being carried out by hand. In ibiza There are thousands of passengers crowded in the terminal.

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Airports around the world Europe have started the day at half speed or, directly, without receiving flights. In the Amsterdam Airport No aircraft arrivals are expected until 12:00 noon and in Zurich The same situation is expected at least until 6:00 p.m.

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Air traffic is particularly affected. London. Its three main airports say they are affected by the computer problems. Gatwick, Luton and Heathrow are reporting delays in departure times but are asking passengers to arrive at the facilities on time as they may encounter waits at check-in and police checkpoints.

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Click on the image to go to the original tweet

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Things are not better outside Europe either. One user referred to the fact that most of the airports in Europe India are out of service and showed a ticket showing that, just like in our country, it has been decided to check in passengers by hand.

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At the airport of Sydneyone of the first to report issues related to the CrowdStrike update crash, is also down. Screenshots showing all of the information screens down have been reported. The official account The airport officials confirm that flights are departing and arriving, but they expect long delays and advise passengers to arrive in good time.

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Recommendations

In an effort to minimise the problems caused by the computer failure, messages from airlines and airports are being repeated.

First of all, please note that flights scheduled for today may be subject to delays. Please note that returning to normality may take hours and the impact will last for much or all of the day.

Passengers are also asked to arrive at airports with sufficient time. In some cases, check-in is still handled manually, meaning that normal processes may take much longer than expected.

Finally, due to the expected increase in the number of passengers arriving at the airport, it is advisable to use public transport whenever possible.

Photos | Carlos CoronadoTwitter

At Xataka | Collapse at airports in Spain and around the world: a failure with Microsoft causes a global infrastructure crisis