A major global technology outage has caused chaos for airlines and public transport.
The outage of Microsoft’s cloud services on Friday afternoon has brought down computers around the world and at major banks, businesses, newsrooms and television networks.
Australia’s largest airline, Qantas, was also affected by the outage, with one passenger reporting that he did not know what time his flight was leaving.
“Qantas is telling passengers to Google their flight to find out when it leaves and which gate it is at because everything is down,” the passenger wrote on X.
A Qantas spokesperson confirmed the airline is experiencing some system impacts due to the disruption.
The spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that they are working with their suppliers to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
Another X user reported that Jetstar’s computer systems were also down at Sydney Airport, where the airline announced it was “unable to check in or board passengers.”
A global technological outage wreaked havoc on airlines and public transport on Friday afternoon (file image)
Flights continue to depart and arrive at the airport, but “there may be some delays overnight,” Sydney Airport said in a statement.
“We have activated our contingency plans and deployed additional personnel to our terminals,” the statement said.
‘If you are traveling today, be sure to allow enough time to get to the airport and check with your airline about the status of your flight.’
The outage is severely affecting airlines across the United States, where Microsoft revealed it originated around 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, Reuters reports.
A passenger on the US airline Delta said he was not allowed to board his plane even though “the crew and people were ready.”
Another Delta passenger said they were “sitting on a packed plane going nowhere.”
More to come.