Image source, Getty Images
- Author, Christy Cooney
- Role, BBC News
Airports are expected to be busy over the weekend after massive outages hit computer systems around the world.
Travel could still be affected by delays and cancellations, and a number of airports have said passengers should continue to check for potential disruptions before travelling.
The outages came on one of the busiest days of the year, with many schools in England and Wales closed for the summer this week.
GPs, pharmacies, banks, payment systems and rail services have also been affected.
The problems were caused by a faulty software update for Microsoft Windows released by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, computer scientist Sir Nigel Shadbolt said most computer systems similar to CrowdStrike’s software operate at “very high quality levels”.
But “it’s like a pandemic” when things go wrong, he added, saying lessons should be learned.
Mr Shadbolt said using multiple systems could be the way forward.
In a blog post published Saturday, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz apologized and said his company “understands the severity and impact of the situation.”
London Heathrow Airport was operating as normal this morning but with increased traffic as passengers due to fly on Friday continued their journeys over the weekend.
London Gatwick said its system was “operating normally” but that “some delays and cancellations will nevertheless persist” in the coming days.
Manchester Airport, where check-in was carried out manually for a period on Friday, said its check-in systems were operational but flights “may still be subject to delays and cancellations”.
Belfast International Airport said it was operating as normal but “we advise passengers to stay in contact with their airlines”.
The Port of Dover said it had not experienced any computer problems on Saturday morning, but hundreds of people unable to fly on Friday are arriving at the port, some without ferry bookings.
There is a two-and-a-half hour wait at the port, ferry company DFDS said.
As of Friday evening, 338 flights to and from the UK – 167 departures and 171 arrivals – had been cancelled, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Simon Calder, travel correspondent for the Independent, said passengers he spoke to at airports were “absolutely despondent”.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Saturday, he said the ordeal was “horrible” for those hoping to travel in and out of the UK.
“There are 50,000 British travellers who are waking up this morning where they didn’t expect to be,” he added.
Delayed or cancelled flights can often have repercussions beyond the initial disruption, as planes and crews are not where they were supposed to be.
On the rail network, National Rail said the issue was no longer affecting operators, although some operators are still advising customers to check their journey before travelling.
The outages left several retailers, including Morrisons and Waitrose, unable to accept card payments for part of the day, while Sky News television was briefly off air.
On Friday, Mr Kurtz said he was “deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption” caused by the outages, while stressing that they were not the result of a security breach or cyberattack.
He later told the company’s customers in an open letter: “I am committed to providing full transparency on how this happened and what steps we are taking to prevent something like this from happening again.”
How does the computer outage affect you?