Air travel was immediately hit, because carriers depend on smooth scheduling that, when interrupted, can ripple into lengthy delays. Out of more than 110,000 scheduled commercial flights on Friday, 5,000 were cancelled globally with more expected, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
According to flight tracking service FlightAware, Delta Air Lines was one of the hardest hits, with 20% of its flights cancelled. The U.S. carrier expected additional delays and cancellations through the weekend.
Airports from Los Angeles to Singapore, Amsterdam and Berlin said airlines were checking in passengers with handwritten boarding passes, causing delays.
Banks and financial services companies warned customers of disruptions and traders across markets, spoke of problems executing transactions. Insurers could face a raft of business interruption claims.
U.S. healthcare providers reported that outages affected call centres, patient portals and other operations. Mass General Brigham in Boston said it was only urgent cases while Tufts Medical Centre warned that patients might experience delays or need to reschedule.
In Britain, booking systems used by doctors were offline, posts on X by medical officials said, while Sky News, one of the country’s major broadcasters, was taken off the air.
As the day progressed, more companies reported a return to normal service, including Spanish airport operator Aena, U.S. carriers United Airlines, American Airlines, and Australia’s Commonwealth Bank.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said system issues appeared to be resolved and transportation would hopefully return to normal by Saturday, July 20.
