Microsoft Service Outage Disrupts Global Businesses

Microsoft faced a significant service outage, affecting businesses, financial institutions, airlines, and emergency services worldwide.

Widespread Impact on Microsoft 365 Apps

Thousands of users reported issues with Microsoft 365 apps and services on Downdetector.com, a site monitoring service disruptions. Microsoft 365 Status posted on X early Friday, “We’re investigating an issue impacting users’ ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.”

Azure Cloud Platform Affected

According to Microsoft’s status page for Azure, the cloud-computing platform, the problem started just before 10 p.m. ET Thursday, primarily affecting systems in the central U.S. Microsoft identified the cause and is working to restore access.

Impact on Airlines

The outage caused Frontier Airlines to cancel some flights. “Our systems are currently impacted by a Microsoft outage, which is also affecting other companies,” Frontier stated, promising refunds to affected passengers. The Federal Aviation Administration paused Frontier’s departures across the U.S. Thursday night, but the ground stop was later lifted. Frontier serves approximately 120 destinations in the U.S., Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America.

Sun Country Airlines, another low-cost carrier based in Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, reported the outage’s impact on multiple airlines. “Some of our services are temporarily unavailable. We are working with the third party to resolve this issue as quickly as possible,” they posted on X early Friday.

Effects in Australia

At Sydney’s busiest airport, some airline operations and terminal services were disrupted Friday afternoon local time, though flights continued. Qantas, Australia’s largest airline, reported system impacts due to the global software issue but did not specify flight status. Delays were possible later in the day, and the airport activated contingency plans with airline partners and deployed additional staff to assist passengers.

London Stock Exchange Issues

The London Stock Exchange announced that a technology issue was affecting the publication of news announcements.

Microsoft has not yet responded to requests for comment. The company continues to work on resolving the outage and restoring full functionality to its affected services.