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High alert for passengers: Swiss airports in complete meltdown, IT outage grounds and cancels flights in Zurich, Geneva and Basel

Saturday July 20, 2024

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Swiss airport

A large-scale IT outage on Friday had a major impact on air traffic in Switzerland. Swiss airports are completely paralyzed due to canceled flights and delays. Passengers are therefore extra alert.

The issue, which was attributed to a system update by IT security firm Crowdstrike, caused disruptions at major airports across the country, including Zurich Airport (ZRH), Geneva Airport (GVA) and Basel Mulhouse Freiburg Airport (BSL).

Zurich Airport struggling with groundings and cancellations

Zurich Airport, Switzerland’s busiest airport, experienced the most disruption, with landings temporarily suspended mid-morning, leading to delays and cancellations.

The airport gradually resumed normal operations in the early afternoon, but not before around 100 flights to and from Zurich had been grounded.

Passengers faced additional challenges due to manual check-in procedures implemented by some airlines due to IT issues.

Zurich Airport advises travellers to contact their airline directly for the latest flight information.

Skyguide reduces air traffic capacity

Swiss air traffic control service provider Skyguide also felt the effects of the outage. They reduced the capacity of transit air traffic over Switzerland by 30% on Friday morning.

This also meant that fewer flights were operated into Zurich Airport, which contributed to the lack of flights earlier in the day.

Geneva and Basel Mulhouse face delays

Although Geneva Airport reported no direct IT-related issues, delays and cancellations still occurred due to airspace monitoring issues.

At Basel-Mulhouse airport, ground operations were disrupted as airlines and service providers faced technical problems.

Despite these challenges, the airport experienced no significant impact on flight handling.

Swissport baggage handling systems affected

Global service company Swissport, responsible for baggage handling at many airports worldwide, was hit hard by the outage.

Most of the baggage handling systems in Switzerland had become unusable.

Swissport confirmed that they are working with Microsoft to resolve the issue.

Limited disruptions to other sectors

The Swiss federal government reported no significant problems on Friday afternoon.

The Federal Office for Cybersecurity (Bundesamt für Cybersecurity) was not aware of any outages that affected critical infrastructure. However, they did report receiving reports from various companies.

Financial services provider PostFinance and telecommunications company Swisscom also confirmed that their activities were not affected.

Airlines that may be affected

While the specific airlines affected by the outage are not explicitly named in the sources cited, these are some of the major airlines flying out of Switzerland:

Swiss International Airlines
Airline
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
SAS Scandinavian Airlines
EasyJet

Passengers flying with an airline from Zurich, Geneva or Basel-Mulhouse airports on Friday 14 June 2024 should contact their airline directly for the latest information on possible delays or cancellations due to the IT outage.

Travelers are advised to check flight status

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) advises all travelers to check the status of their flight directly with their airline before traveling to the airport, especially during times of potential disruption.

This way, passengers can be sure that they have the most up-to-date information and can adjust their travel plans accordingly.

Tags: air travel, airline cancellations, Basel, EasyJet, Geneva, International Air Transport Association (IATA), KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Lufthansa Airlines news, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Swiss Airport, Swiss flights, Swiss International Air Lines, Swiss air travel, Switzerland travel, Zurich

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