PH airports disrupted as procedures go manual due to global cyber outage

Airports in the Philippines experienced congestion and flight disruptions due to the global cyber outage which resulted in some procedures needing to be done manually.

According to Katrina Son's report on "Saksi," families continued to wait for their delayed flights on Friday night at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.

Some airlines have begun manual processes in their check-in counters.

“Hindi nila alam which gate we are [supposed to go to]. Everything is manual, naka-handwrite 'yung gates na naka-open,” said passenger Jazz, who's supposed to be bound for Bali, Indonesia.

(They don’t know which gate we are supposed to go to. Everything is manual, the open gates are hand-written)

“Cancelled daw [ang flight namin] kasi parang system error eh. So, beyond daw sa control ng Cebu Pacific,” said Abigail, whose flight to Kalibo, Aklan had been canceled.

(Our flight was canceled because there was a system error. So, they said it was beyond the control of Cebu Pacific.)

NAIA has deployed additional security personnel to control the growing crowd after local airlines Cebu Pacific and AirAsia were hit by the outage.

In Davao City, Cebu Pacific has also begun manual check-in following two cancellations and several delayed flights.

Manual check-ins are also being conducted at the Clark International Airport.

Earlier, Cebu Pacific announced several canceled domestic and international flights until Saturday.

AirAsia has also reported issues with their check-in process, self-check-in kiosks, and mobile application due to the outage.

Outside the country, international airports were also affected by the global outage.

Airports in Los Angeles, California, and Washington, DC experienced Blue Screens of Death across their systems. At the same time, passengers in Berlin, Germany, and Spain were stranded due to flight cancellations and delays.

Congestion, cancellations, and delays are also experienced at airports in Singapore, Netherlands, Portugal, India, Dubai, and France.

Aside from airports, the outage also affected retailers, telecommunication companies, and media outlets across the globe.

US cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, in a statement, said that the outage stemmed from an issue with their Falcon Sensor causing Microsoft Windows Systems to crash.

In a post on X, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz assured that the outage was not a security threat or cyber attack.

Today was not a security or cyber incident. Our customers remain fully protected.

We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption. We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can…

— George Kurtz (@George_Kurtz) July 19, 2024

DICT continues to monitor the outage and said they were not affected by the incident as they used a different cybersecurity provider. —Jiselle Anne C. Casucian/NB, GMA Integrated News