Belfast International Airport systems ‘back up and running’ after global IT outage

Belfast International Airport has confirmed its systems are “back up and running” after it was hit by a global IT outage.

The outage is understood to have been caused by a defect found in a content update from cybersecurity company Crowdstrike which affected Windows hosts.

On Friday morning an airport spokesperson said a “global IT system outage” had impacted the airport and many other businesses.

The reported issues saw the airport resort to whiteboards to provide flight information to passengers.

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The airport has since confirmed that its systems are now operational but is advising travellers to check with their airlines.

In a recent post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), a spokesperson said: “The airport remains operational and airport systems are back up and running however passengers should still check with their airline for the latest flight information for travel tomorrow (Saturday 20th).”

Ryanair, which flies out from Belfast International, also said it had experienced“ disruption across the network due to a global third party IT outage which is out of our control”.

In a social media post on X the airline confirmed that issues with its online check-in have now been resolved.

Friday’s crash also affected other airports, banks and health services across the world, as well as broadcasters, including Sky News, which was not able to go on air on Friday morning.

In the north hospital services and around a two thirds of GP practices were also affected.