UK airports and airlines have been hit with chaos following the Microsoft outage today.
The IT disaster has led to huge queues at airports across the UK, with holidaymakers at Gatwick reportedly unable to check-in.
Cybersecurity software firm Crowdstrike say they have identified the issue behind the global outage as a flawed anti-viral update.
The firm is reportedly used by Microsoft to handle various updates to their systems.
It comes as Britain braces for its busiest day for air travel since before the Covid pandemic, with millions of families preparing for their summer breaks.
According to reports from BBC News, at Gatwick barcodes are not working so security checks on boarding passes are being done manually, but security searches are operating normally.
Ryanair confirmed that the airline was also affected by the outage. Passengers have been urged to arrive three hours before scheduled departure times.
A spokesperson for the airline said: “We’re currently experiencing disruption across the network due to a Global 3rd party IT outage which is out of our control. We advise all passengers to arrive at the airport at least three hours before their scheduled departure time.
“If you’re due to travel today and have not already checked in for your flight, you can do so at the airport. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of this Global 3rd party IT outage.”
Various Microsoft services in the UK, US, Australia, Japan, Germany and New Zealand have all faced tech issues in the last few hours.
It has hit major brands around the world including finance firms, and technology companies and has forced Sky News to go off-air.
Friday’s Sky News breakfast show was wiped off computer and TV screens with a statement apologising for the “interruption” being shown.