Chaos as airlines around the world hit by IT outage
Al Jazeera
It is not clear if the airlines will be required to compensate travellers for the delays.
Passengers around the world have faced flight delays, cancellations and problems checking in as airports and airlines are caught up in a significant IT outage that also has affected industries ranging from banks to media companies.
Some airlines and airports have since said they were back online, with the United States government holding out hope that the transportation system would be back to normal by Saturday.
Out of more than 110,000 commercial flights scheduled on Friday, at least 2,691 have been cancelled globally, according to data from the global aviation analytics firm Cirium. More are expected to be called off.
In Edinburgh, the Reuters news agency reported that boarding pass scanners displayed a “server offline” message, and the airport said passengers should not travel to the airport without checking their flight status online first.
Elsewhere, airports and airlines advised customers to arrive earlier than normal for flights. Analysts said the outage was likely tied to a glitch in Microsoft software used around the world.
