Flights in and out of Zurich and Geneva have been heavily disrupted following a global IT outage. A faulty security update has brought companies and airports around the world to a standstill as engineers rush to fix the issue. Landings at Zurich Airport have been suspended.

Tech outage causes chaos worldwide

On July 19, various companies around the world reported tech shutdowns affecting thousands of services. The issues have been blamed on a faulty update to CrowdStrike - a piece of software that constantly monitors computers and internet connections for signs of hackers and computer viruses.

The outage is said to be affecting everything from public transport providers, broadcasters and the police to banks, supermarkets and most significantly airports. At 8am on Friday morning, American Airlines, United and Delta all issued a “global ground stop” on their flights. This means that while services currently airbourne will continue, none of their planes will take off for the foreseeable future. 

Airports in Europe have also been affected. Amsterdam Schiphol and Dutch flag carrier KLM have both reported outages, with the latter “largely suspending” operations due to the fault. The biggest disruption is being felt in Berlin, with BER airport only resuming flight operations at 10am on July 19. 

Airports in Switzerland face heavy disruption

In Switzerland, Zurich Airport announced in the morning that "landings are currently no longer possible" for the foreseeable future. While planes currently in the air will still be able to land at the airport, flights still on the ground will not be able to depart towards Zurich. This will inevitably lead to major delays and cancellations for the vast majority of passengers. 

At 1pm Zurich Airport confirmed that starting at midday on July 19, they would be gradually bringing flight services back up to 100 percent capacity. They estimate that around 100 flights to and from Zurich Airport are cancelled, and many more are delayed.

“There are IT outages worldwide. Several airlines, handling agents and other companies at the airport are currently affected,” the airport wrote. This means that many flights due to depart from Zurich will also be cancelled. The IT issues may also lead to check-ins “being done manually in some cases.” Passengers in Zurich have already reported that passengers are being boarded using paper lists.

Check your flight status before you head to Zurich or Geneva airport

“Passengers are advised to contact their airline to find out about the status of their flight," the airport concluded. At Skyguide, the air traffic controller for Switzerland, spokesperson Vladi Barrosa told 20 Minuten that they were also affected by the IT outage. 

"As a precautionary measure, we have reduced transit traffic capacity at Zurich and Geneva airports by 30 percent," he explained. This will likely lead to further delays to the flights that are able to depart.

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