Global IT outage: Airline systems across airports working normally, says Union Min Rammohan Naidu
Mumbai (PTI): Airline systems across airports, which were impacted due to a global IT outage on Friday, have started working normally, and all issues are likely to be resolved by noon on Saturday, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said.
The ministry is constantly monitoring the operations at airports and airlines to ensure travel readjustments and refunds are taken care of, he added.
"Since 3 AM (Saturday), Airline systems across airports have started working normally. Flight operations are going smoothly now," Naidu said in a statement.
On Friday, in one of the biggest-ever IT outages, an update of a product offered by global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike triggered problems with Microsoft's Windows across the planet, hitting operations at financial sector companies and airlines while hospital operations got postponed and some television channels went off air.
Airports across the country witnessed chaotic scenes after the online passenger booking, reservation and boarding systems turned to manual mode due to the outage, resulting in higher passenger handling processing time and consequently hundreds of flights were delayed and many cancelled.
There is a backlog because of disruptions on Friday, and it is getting cleared gradually, according to the statement.
"By noon today, we expect all issues to be resolved," the minister said.
The reservation and check-in systems of most of the airlines, including IndiGo, SpiceJet, Akasa and Air India Express, are now operational, according to a source.
"I am going to Ahmedabad. Online printing (Digi Yatra) is convenient, which wasn't happening yesterday. Everything's fine today. Flights are on time. What happened yesterday was a network issue. No one can do anything about that," said a passenger at Delhi Airport.
"The global outage that led to operational difficulties is nearly resolved, and our teams have made significant progress in restoring normal operations. However, customers may still experience delays and schedule disruptions over the weekend," budget carrier IndiGo said.
IndiGo, the largest airline by domestic market share, operating over 2,000 daily flights, had to cancel around 200 flights due to the Microsoft outage issue.
The two other carriers SpiceJet and Akasa Air said late Friday evening that all their systems at airports, including ticket bookings, were up and running.
SpiceJet said that "all its systems at airports, ticket bookings and call centres are up and running smoothly after a successful resolution of a Microsoft outage that impacted the aviation industry all through the day".
"While the global systems downtime of reservations, check-in and boarding systems posed an unprecedented operational challenge to our ground services team, Akasa Air confirms that all its scheduled flights on Friday operated with minimum disruptions and nil cancellations," the airline said.
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Youngsters should be made aware of UP's condition before 2017: Adityanath
Gorakhpur (UP) (PTI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday urged intellectuals and opinion makers to educate the younger generation about the condition of the state before 2017 and the transformation witnessed in recent years.
Addressing the "Prabuddh Samvad" programme organised by the BJP's Rapti Nagar Mandal at a marriage hall in Gorakhpur, Adityanath said youngsters must be made aware of the "era of riots, curfews, lawlessness and appeasement politics", so that such a situation does not return.
He said many youngsters today were too young to understand the condition of Uttar Pradesh 10 years ago. "If we do not tell the present generation what the state faced earlier, they will forget the consequences of misgovernance and appeasement politics," he said.
The chief minister alleged that before 2017, the state suffered from "goondaism, corruption, anarchy and exploitation by regional parties". He claimed that traders were forced to pay the "goonda tax", women felt unsafe and employment opportunities were limited, forcing many to migrate.
Highlighting the changes under the present government, Adityanath said Uttar Pradesh now offers development, security and employment opportunities.
Referring to Gorakhpur, he said the fertiliser plant has resumed operations, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is functioning smoothly and the Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College has improved healthcare services.
The chief minister added that industrial projects worth Rs 15,000 crore have generated jobs for nearly 50,000 youngsters in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Adityanath said India has emerged as a global inspiration under his leadership.
Referring to global tensions and rising fuel prices, he appealed to people to conserve fuel and adopt alternatives, such as solar energy, public transport, electric vehicles and carpooling.
Calling intellectuals the "opinion makers of the society", he said teachers, doctors, lawyers and entrepreneurs have a responsibility to guide people in the right direction. He also urged citizens to remain balanced during both favourable and challenging times.
Local MP Ravi Kishan and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLC Dharmendra Singh also addressed the programme. Mayor Manglesh Srivastava and several BJP leaders, professionals and social workers were present.
