A significant disruption in Microsoft Corp.'s cloud services led to widespread flight cancellations and delays across the globe, including in India, on Friday. The outage impacted multiple airlines, resulting in grounded planes and major disruptions to flight operations.

Akasa Airlines reported that some of its online services were temporarily unavailable at Mumbai and Delhi airports. "Due to infrastructure problems with our service provider, online services such as booking, check-in, and managing bookings are not accessible," Akasa Airlines stated. They advised passengers to arrive early for manual check-in and boarding, and assured that their teams are working with the service provider to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

SpiceJet also announced difficulties, stating that technical problems were preventing them from providing updates on flight disruptions. The airline's team is actively addressing the issue and apologized for any inconvenience caused, promising to update passengers once the situation is resolved.

Frontier Airlines, based in Denver and part of Frontier Group Holdings Inc., was heavily affected. The airline grounded flights for over two hours due to problems with Microsoft's services but resumed operations around 11 p.m. New York time. The outage also impacted Frontier's reservations and check-in systems, along with access to boarding passes.

Allegiant Air, operating around 130 aircraft, reported issues with its reservation and booking systems, while Sun Country Airlines Holdings Inc., a leisure carrier with nearly 50 aircraft, experienced a "global outage" but did not specify the vendor responsible.

Microsoft's status pages indicated ongoing issues with Azure cloud and Microsoft 365 services, especially in the central US region. Microsoft acknowledged the problem, stating, "We are aware of this issue and have engaged multiple teams. We have identified the underlying cause and are currently implementing solutions. Customers should start seeing improvements as our mitigation efforts take effect."

The Allied Pilots Association, representing American Airlines pilots, reported that its website was taken offline due to the Microsoft disruption, exacerbating Frontier Airlines' difficulties with booking and check-in systems.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also noted that Allegiant Airlines and Delta Air Lines had issued ground stops due to communication issues linked to the outage.

Sydney Airport confirmed that while flights were still arriving and departing, some delays could be expected through the evening due to the global technical issue affecting several airlines.

This widespread disruption underscores the critical reliance of airlines on cloud services for their operations and the extensive impact of technical issues within these systems.\

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