The logo of Microsoft is seen outside it’s French headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux, outside Paris, Monday May 13, 2024. Microsoft users worldwide, including banks and airlines, reported widespread outages on Friday, July 19, 2024 hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.
DownDectector, which tracks user-reported disruptions to internet services, recorded that airlines, payment platforms and online shopping websites across the world were affected — although the disruption appeared piecemeal and was apparently related to whether the companies used Microsoft cloud-based services.
It said: “This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.” Major delays reported at airports grew on Friday morning, with most attributing the problems in booking systems of individual airlines.Airlines and railways in the U.K. were also affected, with longer than usual waiting times.
In India, Hong Kong and Thailand, many airlines were forced to manually check in passengers. An airline in Kenya was also reporting disruption.While the outages were being experienced worldwide, Australia appeared to be severely affected by the issue. Disruption reported on the site DownDetector included the banks NAB, Commonwealth and Bendigo, and the airlines Virgin Australia and Qantas, as well as internet and phone providers such as Telstra.