Airlines rush to get back on track after global tech disruption

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Transport providers, businesses and governments on Saturday are rushing to get all their systems back online after long disruptions following a widespread technology outage.

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The biggest continuing effect has been on air travel. Carriers cancelled thousands of flights on Friday and now have many of their planes and crews in the wrong place, while airports facing continued problems with checking in and security.

At the heart of the massive disruption is CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that provides software to scores of companies worldwide. The company says the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows, noting that the issue behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack.

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Germany warns of scams after major IT outage

BERLIN — The German government’s IT security agency says numerous companies are still struggling with the consequences of a far-reaching technology outage.

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“Many business processes and procedures have been disturbed by the breakdown of computer systems,” the BSI agency said on its website.

But the agency also said Saturday that many impacted areas have returned to normal.

It warned that cybercriminals were trying to take advantage of the situation through phishing, fake websites and other scams and that “unofficial” software code was in circulation.

The agency said it was not yet clear how faulty code ended up in the CrowdStrike software update blamed for triggering the outage.

European airports appear to be close to normal

LONDON — Europe’s busiest airport, Heathrow, said it is busy but operating normally on Saturday. The airport said in a statement that “all systems are back up and running and passengers are getting on with their journeys smoothly.”

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Some 167 flights scheduled to depart from U.K. airports on Friday were cancelled, while 171 flights due to land were axed.

Meanwhile, flights at Berlin Airport were departing on or close to schedule, German news agency dpa reported, citing an airport spokesman.

Nineteen flights took off in the early hours of Saturday after authorities exempted them from the usual ban on night flights.

On Friday, 150 of the 552 scheduled inbound and outbound flights at the airport were cancelled over the IT outage, disrupting the plans of thousands of passengers at the start of the summer vacation season in the German capital.

Delta Air Lines and its regional affiliates have cancelled hundreds of flights

DALLAS — Delta Air Lines and its regional affiliates cancelled more than a quarter of their schedule on the East Coast by midafternoon Friday, aviation data provider Cirium said.

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More than 1,100 flights for Delta and its affiliates have been cancelled.

United and United Express had cancelled more than 500 flights, or 12% of their schedule, and American Airlines’ network had cancelled 450 flights, 7.5% of its schedule.

Southwest and Alaska do not use the CrowdStrike software that led to the global internet outages and had cancelled fewer than a half-dozen flights each.

Border crossings into the U.S. are delayed

SAN DIEGO — People seeking to enter the U.S. from both the north and the south found that the border crossings were delayed by the internet outage.

The San Ysidro Port of Entry was gridlocked Friday morning with pedestrians waiting three hours to cross, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Even cars with people approved for a U.S. Customers and Border Protection “Trusted Traveler” program for low-risk passengers waited up to 90 minutes. The program, known as SENTRI, moves passengers more quickly through customs and passport control if they make an appointment for an interview and submit to a background check to travel through customs and passport control more quickly when they arrive in the U.S.

Meanwhile, at the U.S.-Canada border, Windsor Police reported long delays at the crossings at the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor tunnel.

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