Over 3,000 flights have been canceled worldwide due to a global outage caused by a technical issue in CrowdStrike’s Falcon product. The outage has disrupted business operations and critical services, including aviation, resulting in widespread travel chaos.
The majority of canceled flights are in the United States, with aviation analytics firms Cirum and FlightAware reporting thousands more delays. Eindhoven Airport has announced that flights to and from the airport are affected. Schiphol Airport also faced problems but is working to restart its systems, aiming to resume normal operations.
KLM, a Dutch airline, warned on Twitter about the limited air traffic due to the computer failure. They advised passengers to expect delays and cancellations and to avoid coming to the airport if their flight is significantly delayed or canceled. “This means that customers should take delays and cancellations into account. We call on passengers not to come to the airport if their flight does not depart or is seriously delayed,” KLM noted, highlighting the inconvenience caused just as the summer holidays begin.
The root cause of the issue is a faulty update to CrowdStrike’s Falcon product, which led to the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) on numerous Windows machines. The BSOD is a stop error screen displayed following a critical system error, indicating that the operating system can no longer function safely. This has left many PCs and servers inoperable, including those used by airlines for essential operations.
The CrowdStrike outage is an inconvenience and a significant disruption to global air travel. Airports and airlines struggle to manage the fallout, with many turning to manual processes. For example, an airline in India has resorted to handwritten boarding passes due to the outage. The impact is vast, affecting everything from flight departures to emergency call centers in Alaska.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the U.S. is assisting airlines like Delta, United, and American Airlines in managing ground stops and addressing communication issues. The Berlin airport is also experiencing delays, with many travelers uncertain about their flights.
CrowdStrike has acknowledged the issue and deployed a fix. CEO George Kurtz emphasized that this is not a security incident or cyberattack and reassured that Mac and Linux systems are unaffected. The fix, however, requires IT administrators to manually implement it, which is challenging due to the widespread nature of the issue and varying time zones.
As airports and airlines work tirelessly to restore operations, the full impact of the outage is still unfolding. Travelers are advised to check with their airlines for the latest updates and to prepare for potential delays and cancellations.
While the workaround provided by CrowdStrike offers a potential resolution, restoring normal operations will take time. IT administrators worldwide face a daunting task in bringing systems back online and ensuring that such disruptions are minimized in the future.
