NI airports impacted by major IT outage

Northern Ireland’s largest airports have been affected by a major IT outage which is affecting industries across the world.

Belfast International Airport reported longer waiting times and Belfast City Airport advised passengers to check the status of their flights due to the disruption.

Flights at both airports remain operational.

At Belfast International, while some flight information screens are frozen, there is no longer any other evidence of disruption.

Dublin Airport has asked all passengers to arrive at least three hours early for their flights.

American Airlines said problems had been caused by issues with Crowdstrike cybersecurity software.

Dublin Port estate is fully operational again after what it described as some brief traffic congestion earlier.

Some banks and media outlets globally have been impacted.

Microsoft has said it is taking mitigation action to deal with the problem.

Aviation analytics firm Cirium has suggested more than 1,000 flights have been cancelled.

Ryanair has also advised its passengers arrive three hours before their scheduled departure times due to a “global third party IT outage which is out of our control”.

“If you’re due to travel today and have not already checked-in for your flight, you can do so at the airport,” the airline said in a social media post.

Belfast International Airport said its systems were returning to normal and passengers were being processed.

“The airport is part of a global aviation network that is still experiencing disruption so delays and cancellations can be expected as the day goes on,” a spokeswoman said.

“Passengers should continue to check with their airline for the latest updates and before travelling to the airport.”

Belfast City Airport said although flights operations had not been “directly affected” there would be “disruption across global networks” and passengers were advised to check the status of their flights.

Some railway companies and NHS services across the UK are also reporting problems.

The cause of the outage is not known, but computer giant Microsoft said it is dealing with “the lingering impact” of the outage.