A catastrophic global outage of Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform has paralyzed check-in systems for major Indian carriers, including IndiGo, Akasa, and SpiceJet, since 10:45 AM on Friday.
The disruption has triggered chaos at airports nationwide, with processing times grinding to a halt and passengers facing agonizingly long queues.
IndiGo, India’s largest airline by passenger numbers, reported that its systems were “severely impacted by an ongoing issue with Microsoft Azure.” The airline stated that this problem has caused “increased wait times at our contact centers and airports.”
IndiGo assured passengers that their team was “working relentlessly to restore stability” and was closely coordinating with Microsoft Azure to resolve the issues swiftly.
Adani Airports, which manages key hubs in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram, warned that the global IT outage was “affecting operations and impacting flights across the country.” They mentioned that “booking, check-in, access to boarding passes, and flights are likely to be disrupted.” The airports authority urged passengers to reach out to their respective airlines for information and expressed appreciation for their patience.
Air India Express acknowledged that “digital infrastructure issues have temporarily affected online and airport operations across multiple airlines and airports globally.” They advised passengers to “plan their travel accordingly and allow sufficient time for airport procedures,” expressing regret for the inconvenience caused.
Akasa Air noted that due to “infrastructure issues with our service provider, some online services, including booking and check-in, are temporarily unavailable.” They were following manual check-in and boarding processes at airports and requested passengers with immediate travel plans to “arrive early.” The airline assured passengers that their teams were “working diligently with our service provider to resolve the issues as quickly as possible.”
SpiceJet indicated that they were “experiencing technical challenges with our service provider, affecting online services like booking and check-in.” The airline had activated manual check-in and boarding processes and requested passengers to “arrive at the airport earlier than usual.” They expressed regret for any inconvenience and assured passengers that their teams were “working diligently to resolve the issues promptly.”
The Azure outage has inflicted widespread operational paralysis, with airports and airlines scrambling to manage the fallout. As digital systems falter, the aviation sector faces an unprecedented challenge in restoring normalcy and minimizing the impact on frustrated travelers.
