An outage impacting Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing network hindered airlines’ operations, according to The Arizona Republic.
TakeAway Points:
- The Arizona Republic reported that an outage affecting Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Azure, hampered airlines’ operations.
- The websites for Sun Country Airlines and Allegiant Air were not working Thursday evening, citing the Azure outage. Sun Country and Allegiant each had one flight delay out of Sky Harbor on Thursday.
- Frontier Airlines issued a ground stop due to a “technical problem” that left passengers waiting in terminals nationwide, the airline stated.
Microsoft’s Cloud Issues
A global technical system outage affected airline operations on Thursday, leading to some flight delays and cancellations at airports nationwide, including Ontario International Airport.
Multiple users reached out to Azure’s support account on X, @AzureSupport, for answers.
The account issued this statement in response to user complaints: “Hi, thank you for reaching out. We are aware that some of you are experiencing issues at the moment. Our team is looking into it and working on a resolution.”
Most of the flights canceled Thursday evening at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport were Frontier flights. FlightAware counted seven canceled and 14 delayed Frontier flights at Sky Harbor.
The websites for Sun Country Airlines and Allegiant Air were not working Thursday evening, citing the Azure outage. Sun Country and Allegiant each had one flight delay out of Sky Harbor on Thursday.
Frontier’s website was working, though it displayed the message, “Our systems are currently impacted by a Microsoft outage, which is also affecting other companies. We appreciate your patience.”
Airlines Operation are affected
The grounding of Frontier Airlines’ planes was lifted after the technical outage, the Federal Aviation Administration reported Thursday night. The FAA said the ground stop was canceled about 10:30 p.m. EST, ABC reported.
Ontario International Airport spokesman Steve Lambert told the Daily Press the disruption was “only a Frontier issue, which affected no other airline.”
Photographer Brandy Carlos took to X on Thursday evening to share her sadness because she could not fly out of the Ontario International Airport due to “all the airlines,” except for Delta, being down with no flights at the airport.
Frontier issued a statement Thursday saying, “Our systems are currently impacted by a Microsoft outage, which is also affecting other companies. During this time, booking, check-in, access to your boarding pass, and some flights may be impacted. We appreciate your patience.”
Frontier did reveal a timeline on when it would resume flights again but said it would share updates. The airline also said the outage is affecting other companies.
“One of our information vendors is experiencing a global outage affecting multiple airlines. As a result, some of our services are temporarily unavailable. We are working with the third party to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and appreciate your patience,” Sun Country Airlines posted on X.
Roberto Contreras of Victorville told the Daily Press that his Thursday night flight was delayed.
As of 7 p.m. on Thursday, two flights at Ontario International Airport had been canceled and 62 were delayed, according to FlightAware.
Flightrader24 posted to X that flights airborne on Thursday evening numbered 15 compared to 57 on Wednesday night.
