Plane grounded as global IT outage hits airlines, media and banks

A number of global institutions – including major banks, media and airlines – have reported being hit by a mass IT outage.

Australia has been hit particularly hard with flights grounded, supermarkets experiencing cashier chaos and broadcast networks going off the air as autocue, graphics and computers failed.

The US state of Alaska has also warned that its emergency services are affected.

The cause of the outage is unclear, but many of those affected have linked it to Microsoft's PC operating system.

An official Microsoft 365 service update posted to X earlier in the day said “we are investigating an issue that is impacting users’ ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services”.

A spokesperson for Australia's Home Affairs Minister said the outage appeared to be related to a problem at global cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, and the country's cybersecurity guard said there is no information to suggest it is an attack.

“Our current information is that this outage is related to a technical issue with a third-party software platform used of affected companies,” they said in a statement.

Alaska officials said many 911 and non-emergency calls are not working properly.

The Australian telecom company Telstra has said that triple-0 call centres – the main emergency contact in Australia – are not affected, but that they are working with other state emergency service providers to implement backup processes.

Meanwhile at Sydney Airport, information disappeared from departure boards. In a message to passengers in the domestic terminal, budget carrier Jetstar said a “problem with Microsoft” meant it was unable to check in passengers or board its flights.

Virgin Australia also told its travelers that there was a “complete ground stop” for flights.

Social media users have reported queues at Australian stores such as Woolworths, with payment systems down and problems accessing financial institutions such as National Australia Bank.