A major international IT outage has impacted major airports and airlines across Australia and the world.
In Australia, the global IT outage has also hit major banks and media outlets as institutions have been taken offline.
On social media, Sydney Airport said, “a global technical outage has impacted some airline operations and terminal services”.
“Flights are currently arriving and departing however there may be some delays throughout the evening,” it stated.
“We have activated our contingency plans and deployed additional staff to our terminals.
“If you’re travelling today make sure you leave plenty of time to come to the airport and check with your airline regarding the status of your flight.”
A spokesperson for Melbourne Airport, Australia’s busiest 24/7 hub, said the airport and its airline partners “will be working through the night to return operations to normal”.
“Jetstar has notified passengers that all Jetstar Airways flights have been cancelled until 2am local time. United Airlines flight UA 61 to San Francisco has also been cancelled as a result of the outage,” they said.
“All other airlines both domestically and internationally will continue planned operations tomorrow, but these may be affected by cancellations and delays at other ports.
“Our advice for passengers is to check with your airline for individual flight updates and if you are departing out of Melbourne Airport tomorrow allow a little extra time as we do expect additional congestion in the terminals.”
In Queensland, Brisbane Airport said the issue is impacting check-in for some airlines “and some terminal services”.
“Flights are continuing to operate. We will keep you up to date with any further impacts and if you’re travelling, stay alert for messages from your airline.”
The IT issue is also impacting check-in for some airlines at Perth Airport.
“Flights are continuing to operate. We will keep you updated with any further impacts and if you’re travelling, stay alert for messages from your airline,” the Western Australian gateway said on X.
Aussie airlines
Virgin Australia confirmed the outage had impacted its operations.
“Virgin Australia is aware of a large-scale IT outage impacting multiple airlines and other businesses which is having an impact on our operations,” an airline statement said.
“We are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible.
“We appreciate the patience of all travellers as we work through a solution and will provide an update once more information is known.”
Qantas check-in terminals are experiencing outages at airports nationwide, including Sydney and Canberra, the ABC reported.
In a travel update, Qantas said the outage is “impacting services on qantas.com and the app such as booking and managing flights, online check-in and retrieving your digital boarding pass”.
“Our partners are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible,” the flying kangaroo stated.
“Qantas passengers should continue to travel to the airport for their upcoming flight. Check Flight Status for the latest information. We recommend you allow additional time.”
In an update at around midnight, Jetstar said “our IT systems are beginning to stabilise, and flights on Saturday 20 July are currently planned to operate as scheduled”.
“Please proceed to the airport as usual. There may be a small number of flights impacted due to operational reasons. If your flight is impacted, we will communicate directly to you using the contact details on your booking,” it stated.
“We’re continuing to offer flexibility for those customers who no longer wish to travel (free moves +7 days or voucher refund).”
North American chaos
According to Reuters, several major US carriers including American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines were forced to ground flights due to the IT chaos.
Some carriers issued ground stops on Friday morning (local time) due to communication issues but it’s unclear if the problems were related to the tech disruption.
Frontier Airlines was among the US carriers affected by the IT outage, but later reported that “the ground stop has been lifted, and our systems are gradually normalizing”.
“We are in the process of resuming flight operations,” it said on social media.
