15 flights cancelled, eight delayed in Kerala following Microsoft glitch

Check-in procedures at all four airports affected, forcing airlines to shift to manual check-in

Thiruvananthapuram international airport. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Microsoft outage across the world on Friday affected flight operations at two airports in Kerala.

At least 23 flights operating from the Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi international airports were delayed or cancelled.

Check-in procedures at all the four airports in the State were affected by the glitch, prompting airlines to switch to manual check-in since morning.

Twelve services, both arrival and departure, from the Kochi airport were cancelled while another eight services were delayed owing to the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) of computers running on the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system across the globe. Among the cancelled services were IndiGo services to and from Hyderabad and Bengaluru and Air India Express service to Bengaluru. Eight services, including that of IndiGo, Akasa Air and Air India Express were delayed for periods ranging between 45 minutes and 145 minutes.

“The airlines shifted to manual check-in, which led to delays. It was part of a global outage and it is said that a solution is being worked out,” said airport sources in Kochi.

Indigo cancelled three late-evening flights from Thiruvananthapuram. An 8.55 p.m. flight to Bengaluru, 10.10 p.m. flight to Hyderabad and a 10.45 p.m. flight to Chennai were cancelled.

According to the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, no morning or afternoon flights were cancelled, but the outage hit check-in procedures. An airport spokesperson said technical glitches had prompted airlines to switch to manual check-in procedures for passengers since morning.

More staff deployed

S. Suresh, Director, Calicut International Airport, said that the Microsoft outage had affected flight services from the airport only to a certain extent. “We have deployed more staff to issue the boarding passes manually. We have also asked the passengers to report at least two hours early as the manual process takes more time. However, no flights have been delayed or cancelled,” he told The Hindu.

The Kannur airport authorities said the Microsoft issue had not impacted operations as there were only limited flight services.

The glitch in Microsoft software has affected flight services across the world for airline companies that use the G-Now check-in-system.