||Black and White Digital News ||

||Tejveer Singh July 20 ,2024 ||

MUMBAI:A widespread Microsoft outage on Friday caused severe disruptions at airports across India, leading to chaos and flight cancellations. IndiGo alone had to cancel around 200 flights, while hundreds of others were delayed significantly.

The outage, which began at 10:40 am, affected essential services such as bookings, check-ins, and boarding procedures, forcing a shift to manual operations. This resulted in long queues and frustrated passengers, some of whom were traveling for emergencies. The temporary unavailability of the web check-in feature exacerbated the situation.

Passengers expressed their dissatisfaction with the delays and lack of information. “They are doing it manually so obviously it will take time. They are taking about 30-40 minutes to process a passenger’s ticket. How will they do it for all, they don’t have a reply,” one passenger complained.

Aviation analytics firm Cirium reported that 56 flights were cancelled out of 3,652 scheduled from Indian destinations, not including inbound flights.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu assured passengers that efforts were underway to manage the situation. “We have instructed all airlines and airport authorities to keep passengers informed about their flight status and provide necessary assistance,” Naidu said. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol added that the ministry and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) were closely monitoring the situation and had issued instructions to airlines for prompt passenger communication.

The outage’s impact was particularly severe at high-density airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai. Bengaluru airport officials reported disruptions with the Navitaire Departure Control System affecting airlines such as IndiGo, Akasa, SpiceJet, and Air India Express.

At Delhi airport, gate screens went blank, and flights were held at the gates. Sanjiv Kapoor, executive vice-president of Saudia Airlines, noted the widespread impact on operations.

Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport experienced the cancellation of 23 flights, including those to Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Ahmedabad, and Bengaluru. The airport management urged passengers to contact airlines for updates.

IndiGo acknowledged the outage’s impact on its systems, which affected booking, check-in, and access to boarding passes. Akasa and SpiceJet also reported similar disruptions and shifted to manual processes.

Despite the challenges, efforts are being made to minimize passenger inconvenience. “We are closely working with all our stakeholders to minimize the inconvenience to our flyers,” Hyderabad airport stated, reflecting the broader response across affected airports.