Airlines scramble to get back to normal after global technology blackout

Transportation companies, governments and other businesses were trying to get their systems back online Saturday after widespread problems caused by a blackout global technological.

Air travel was the hardest hit. Airlines canceled thousands of flights on Friday and now have many of their planes and crews in the wrong place, while airports continue to suffer from problems with check-in and security.

At the center of the incident is CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that provides software to dozens of companies around the world. The problem occurred, according to the company, when it deployed a faulty update for computers running Microsoft’s Windows operating system, and said it was not due to a security incident or a cyberattack.

In the UK, the travel and transport sectors were struggling to get back to normal as passengers continued to suffer cancellations and delays on the first day of the summer holidays for many schoolchildren.

Gatwick airport outside London said it expected “the majority” of scheduled flights to take off, while Manchester airport said check-in was being handled manually and there could be last-minute cancellations.

The port of Dover reported increased traffic due to travellers unable to fly, with waits of hours to enter the port and catch ferries to France.

The National Security Centre has warned citizens and businesses to be on the lookout for possible phishing attempts because “opportunistic malicious actors” could try to take advantage of the situation.

In Germany, the low-cost airline Eurowings, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, said it expected to resume most of its scheduled flights on Saturday. The day before, the power outage had cancelled some of its routes, mostly domestic, and passengers were asked to travel by train.

“Online check-in, airport check-in, boarding processes, reservations and flight rescheduling are possible again,” the company said in a post on social media site X on Saturday. “However, given the significant scope of the global IT outage there may be isolated disruptions” for passengers.

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