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The global IT outage on July 19, 2024, caused significant disruptions across various sectors. Triggered by a faulty software update from CrowdStrike, the issue primarily impacted Windows systems. Aviation was severely affected, with airports worldwide thrown into highly visible chaos. Despite the short duration of the core incident, the global turmoil as systems used for ticketing, check-in, boarding, and flight management failed led to widespread disruption. This incident highlights the increasing vulnerability of the aviation sector to technological failures and the need for proper Disaster Recovery Plans and Systems.
Rising trends in airport disruptions
The recent IT outage is part of a growing trend of airport disruptions over the past decade. According to Ink+, an advisory group from technology company Ink Innovation, the number of disruption cases at airports has significantly increased each year. Between 2015 and 2016, disruption cases grew by 50%, reflecting early signs of escalating technological vulnerabilities.
The situation intensified in 2017, with a 100% increase in significant incidents leading to disruption. However, the most dramatic surge occurred in 2022, with a staggering 333% rise in disruptions. This spike was largely attributed to the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which placed unprecedented strain on global aviation infrastructure and highlighted the critical need for robust IT systems.
While 2023 did not witness as dramatic an increase, it was marked by two major IT outages: the nationwide FAA computer system outage in the US and a significant computer failure at the NATS air traffic control centre in the UK. These incidents underscored the susceptibility to IT failures that can cause impactful operational disruption.
2024: Continuing the trend
In the first six months of 2024, the disruption cases are already approaching the total recorded in 2023, continuing the overall upward trend. This most recent global IT outage highlights the challenges faced by the aviation industry in maintaining reliable and secure technological infrastructure.
Addressing the challenges
The increase in the rate of IT failures underscores the urgent need for the aviation industry to invest in more resilient, secure IT systems and processes. Javed Malik, Managing Partner of Ink+ and expert in airline operations, emphasises that local alternative check-in and boarding solutions must be core to airport certification standards, not optional. These alternatives are essential to protect the travel journeys of the public. Airlines must move away from manual fallback that cannot be sustained beyond the flights already in process.
Malik asserts that airlines must demonstrate digital alternative options for check-in and boarding that do not depend on airports' common-use middleware and desktop PCs. If these backup systems rely on the same underlying computing platforms, a failure will bring down the backups as well. Airlines' contingency plans should be decoupled from their business-as-usual systems to reduce risk when primary systems fail. Dependencies increase the risk and create a domino effect in a major incident.
"Riding out the storm" vs. Multi-cloud strategy
A multi-cloud strategy is recommended over a multi-zone or even multi-region strategy on the same cloud provider, as it offers greater resilience. More frequent desktop and simulated IT systems failure training and testing should become the norm to ensure non-disruptive fallback procedures.
“Investment in risk mitigation has been limited by the assumption of a low frequency of incidents. However, centralised systems increase the impact of disruptions. The strategy of "riding out the storm" is no longer viable as previously rare outages become more frequent and impactful on a tightly optimised operation.”
Pamela Graham
Senior Operational Engagement Manager of Ink+
A shift towards robust, independent contingency plans and frequent testing is imperative to ensure the reliability and security of aviation operations.
