New Delhi: A Microsoft global outage resulted in diaruptions to airline operations in India on Friday, with carriers reporting technical issues affecting their systems.
Operations were affected at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi, while IndiGo and Akasa Air reportedly faced email-related problems.
Three flights were cancelled and two others delayed at the Delhi Airport amid the technical disruption, it was reported. The developments prompted concerns over possible operational difficulties for airlines as they dealt with issues linked to Microsoft’s recurring server failures.
The disruption also affected IndiGo and Akasa Air’s email support services. IndiGo warned passengers that it might not be able to receive customer emails because of the Microsoft service disruption. The airline said its other customer support channels remained available and advised passengers requiring urgent assistance to contact its AI-powered assistant, 6E Skai, through its website or mobile application, as reported by Republic TV.
Delays in email support services were also reported by Akasa Air, which cautioned passengers that some messages might not reach the airline. It advised customers seeking immediate assistance to contact its 24-hour Akasa Care Centre or reach out through its social media channels.
The Delhi airport issued a passenger advisory on Friday, warning that some SpiceJet flights could be affected by operational challenges faced by the airline.
The airport, in its advisory issued at 10.05 am, asked passengers travelling with SpiceJet to contact the airline directly for the latest updates regarding their flights and travel plans. The airport did not specify the number of flights that could be affected.
SpiceJet cancelled four flights from Dubai Airport on Thursday after ground-handling agency DNATA suspended check-in services over alleged unpaid dues. According to reports, the suspension was imposed on November 12.
Air India assured passengers that its flight operations remained unaffected by the Microsoft outage. Its communication channels, including voice support, AI-based assistance, social media and customer notifications, were functioning normally, the airline said.
It had temporarily rerouted its email traffic to ensure that customer messages continued to reach the airline without interruption, Air India said. It added that emails were being answered within its usual 24-hour timeframe.
The outage has affected several Microsoft services, including Outlook, Teams, OneDrive and Copilot, with users and businesses across multiple countries reporting difficulties accessing the platforms.
The company has been working to restore the affected infrastructure. However, the it acknowledged that some servers returned to service were becoming unresponsive again after receiving traffic.
Microsoft, in its latest update, said it was continuing efforts to recover affected servers while implementing additional traffic optimisation measures to improve service stability and increase capacity.
No timeline has been announced by the company for the complete restoration of services. It also reported partial recovery in some regions, although its recovery measures had not yet resulted in sustained service restoration.