Global technology outage grounds flights, disrupts services in Calgary

A small number of flights leaving Calgary have been impacted by a technology outage that's causing widespread concern around the world.

Dozens of passengers have been stranded at YYC Calgary International Airport as Porter Airlines said it had to cancel all of its flights until noon, which means four flights have been grounded.

Other airlines, such as WestJet and Air Canada, appear to be unaffected.

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A representative from the airline told a crowd of upset passengers waiting at the airport "not much information is available."

She added the system is expected to come back online around 10 a.m., but not much can be done in the meantime.

According to media reports, a faulty update to Microsoft Windows from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike is to blame for the incident, causing airlines to lose access to check-in and booking services.

In other parts of the world, news broadcasts were off-air for several hours, hospitals could not access appointment systems and banks reported outages in their payment systems and apps.

CrowdStrike said a fix was on its way, telling users in an emailed statement that the company "is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts."

Toronto-based Porter Airlines' website was disabled as of 7 a.m. on July 19, 2024. Passengers with the airline said they were told to contact officials immediately for information about their flights. (Supplied)

Back in Calgary, the affected passengers said they were stunned to arrive at the airport only to find out that their flight had been delayed.

"We are being told this is system-wide, it's not just in Calgary," said Courtney Hochban, who drove down from Red Deer to catch her plane.

"There's lots of people who've rebooked on WestJet. I've rebooked on WestJet tomorrow if Porter can't get me out soon enough."

Hochban says the chaos in the airline industry has been hard to take.

"I think with business, especially with commerce, it's very difficult for people to depend on a system that fails. In this case, I am a little empathetic because it's not the airline's fault."

Shaun, who was scheduled on a Porter flight for a work trip, says he tried to confirm his flight on Friday morning but couldn't get through.

"I went onto their site and it said, 'All systems down," he told CTV News.

"It said to contact the airline as soon as you can so I got here and there's no one to help."

He rebooked on a WestJet flight to get home and says he is paying "a lot more."

"More than what I was expecting but I have to get home."

Calgary 311 services down temporarily

A hotline for Calgarians to call in and access city services and bylaw enforcement is also down due to the outage on Friday.

In a statement, officials said "311 lines are currently disrupted."

"We're uncertain when services will resume. Please stay tuned for updates."

By about 11 a.m., the city said its 311 services were restored.

The Austin, Texas-based CrowdStrike's Nasdaq-traded shares were down nearly 15 per cent in premarket trading early Friday.

A recording playing on its customer service line said, "CrowdStrike is aware of the reports of crashes on Microsoft ports related to the Falcon sensor," referring to one of its products used to block online attacks.

Mobile applications experiencing disruptions

Calgarians who rely on mobile applications to purchase goods and services or complete online banking tasks also experienced delays as a result of the widespread technology outage.

Starbucks was unable to complete any of its mobile orders, which meant some customers who made purchases Friday morning did not receive coffee orders and others lost money by attempting to make a purchase through their credit card.

Local customers, like Dale Hawkins, told CTV News that he experienced delays when making his usual coffee order.

“It seems that we weren’t able to order ahead, we were still able to scan our points on the app but when we got there, the line was definitely a lot busier, " he said.

“I noticed that a lot of people seemed to be surging in with no one able to do the mobile orders.”

Meanwhile some Calgary bank locations were also experiencing a higher volume of customers looking for help in-person as opposed to through online banking.

TD Canada Trust experienced a service interruption this morning.

Bank customers like Kevin Larson say they’d rather do in-person banking in the first place.

“With online apps there’s just so many disruptions it seems, " he said.

“Especially with some of these cyber issues and even cyber crimes we’re seeing, it’s easier for me not to have to check my email or computers.”

(With files from the Associated Press)