What is Crowdstrike? Microsoft outage causes flight delays including Philly, Wilmington

Kim Hjelmgaard, Christopher Cann and Anthony DiMattia, Delaware News Journal
Updated ·5 min read

Major airlines, media companies, banks and telecoms firms around the world reported systems outages Friday that were disrupting their operations.

In the U.S., American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines were among those who grounded flights less than an hour after Microsoft said it resolved a cloud-services-related outage that impacted several low-cost carriers.

It was not immediately clear whether the call to keep flights from taking off was related to the Microsoft cloud outage. The Washington state-based tech giant did not immediately return an emailed request for comment.

What is Crowdstrike?

The outages appeared to be linked to an update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, which is used by over half of Fortune 500 companies, the U.S. firm said in a promotional video this year.

In a post on X, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said the outage was not a "security incident or cyberattack."

He said it was connected to a "defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts." He said the issue has been "identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed."

What is Crowdstrike? What to know about company linked to global IT outage

When will Microsoft be back up?

In a post on X, Microsoft said that the underlying cause of the outage was fixed but "residual impact is continuing to affect some Microsoft 365 apps and services."

"We're conducting additional mitigations to provide relief," the post read.

Philadelphia International Airport delay

The Philadelphia International Airport reported that the system outages were impacting flights around the world.

It advised customers to check with their airline for the latest flight status information.

The airport reported that several early morning flights were delayed due to the outage. As of 8:50 a.m., there were more than 100 arriving and departing flights that were either delayed or canceled.

In a statement, PHL advised travelers to expect delays and cancellations due to the outage.

A report by 6 ABC said the outage was causing long lines at PHL.

Early Friday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration said it closely monitoring a technical issue impacting IT systems at U.S. airlines and that several carriers requested assistance with ground stops until the issue was resolved.

There were over 500 flights canceled and more than 1,100 delays as of 6 a.m. ET, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.

More on the outage: Global tech outage grounds flights, hits banks and media businesses

Service at Wilmington Airport

Systems appeared to be up at Wilmington Airport as it did not show any arriving or departing flight delays on its website as of 8:20 a.m.

Which airlines are reporting delays?

As of 7:30 a.m., American Airlines, Delta, Spirit and United Airlines reported the technical issue was impacting each carrier.

What happens if my flight is canceled?

Department of Transportation rules require all airlines to offer customers a refund if their flights are canceled for any reason, but customers may be entitled to additional compensation if a cancellation is within the airline's control.

It is unclear whether an IT outage affecting all airlines would qualify within their control.

DelDOT reports DMV is closed Friday

Due to the global IT outage, the Delaware Department of Transportation reported that all DMV locations were closed Friday since all phones were down.

"We are working to resolve the issues and thank you for your patience," read a post on X.

This report contains material from Reuters.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: What is Crowdstrike? Global Microsoft outage causes flight delays