In pictures: Airport mayhem as global Microsoft issue leaves travellers stranded

A catastrophic global computer outage has sparked travel chaos around the world, with dozens of airports and airlines reporting issues with their IT systems.

The issue – blamed on a security update from US cybersecurity service CrowdStrike – caused a problem with Microsoft Windows. 

The glitch has paralysed the aviation industry, causing unprecedented disruption with long queues of passengers formed in airports in Spain, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Germany and more.

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In the UK, airports such as Heathrow, Gatwick and Edinburgh warning passengers of long delays and disruption.

Ryanair has had the highest number of reports, compared with Wizzair and British Airways, according to data from Downdetector.

Some airlines have resorted to issuing handwritten tickets, while some airports are relying on whiteboards to update passengers.

According to Crowdstrike, the problem was caused by a ‘defect’ in one of its software updates, and said the outage was not triggered by a security incident or cyber attack.

Microsoft has now said the underlying cause has been fixed, with some residual impact still affecting some Office 365 apps and services.

‘I don’t think it’s too early to call it: this will be the largest IT outage in history,’ said Troy Hunt, a prominent security consultant, in a social media post. 

‘This is basically what we were all worried about with Y2K, except it’s actually happened this time.’

Elon Musk, Tesla chief executive, wrote on social media: ‘Biggest IT fail ever’ followed by “Microsoft” next to an angry emoji face.

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