A widespread global information technology system outage on Friday caused chaos at airports worldwide, including Nigeria’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport, where flights from Lagos to the United States of America, Europe, and other international destinations were delayed and cancelled.
The glitch, reported to have emanated from a faulty software update issued by cybersecurity firm, CrowdStrike, affected Windows computers worldwide, leaving businesses, airports, banks, broadcasters, and the healthcare sector disrupted.
According to Cirium, the largest aggregator of flight status information, at least 2,691 out of 110,000 commercial flights scheduled for Friday were cancelled globally.
Our correspondent gathered that United Airlines cancelled its Lagos-Washington flight on Friday, leaving its Nigeria passengers stranded. The affected passengers were accommodated in hotels while some returned home.
Delta Airlines, the world’s largest operator by passenger volume, also delayed its Lagos-Atlanta flight, pushing the departure time from 12noon to 3pm on Friday.
“Any customers whose flights are impacted will be notified by Delta via the Fly Delta app and text message. Customers should use the Fly Delta app for updates. We apologise for the inconvenience as our teams work through this issue,” the airline said in a statement.
Earlier on Friday, airline officials at the Lagos airport said they were awaiting signals from their head offices overseas to determine the flight status.
“No signals have been received yet. Certainly, the flight won’t go as planned,” one official of Delta Air Lines, who declined to be named, told our correspondent.
The disruptions extended beyond US carriers, impacting European, Middle Eastern, and African airlines operating in Nigeria. Air France and KLM experienced significant delays, with flights into Nigeria postponed, while outbound flights also faced delays.
