A widespread outage disrupted numerous industries across various nations' economies on Friday. Sectors such as aviation, healthcare, transportation, finance, retail, sports, media, and others faced operational challenges due to the technology glitch affecting global systems.
The Federal Aviation Administration in the US had to halt operations amidst more than 110,000 scheduled flights worldwide on that day. Almost a thousand commercial flights were canceled by early morning Eastern Time as reported. Major airlines like Delta, United, and American Airlines suspended their services due to communication issues, while ticket purchases became burdensome for many travelers because of the abruptly changed plans.
In the US capital Washington DC, metro commuters were left stranded as the city's transportation agency MTA reported that some customer information systems were temporarily offline due to this global technical mishap. Similarly, Luton and Gatwick airports in the UK faced disruptions with check-in systems down, impacting their operations severely.
Healthcare services worldwide also bore the brunt of this technological crisis. Important appointments were abruptly canceled across countries including Germany, Israel, and the United Kingdom due to a failure in accessing patient records or booking appointments online. Hospitinas reported difficulties with electronic medical record access while some emergency services faced challenges during peak hours.
The financial sector was not spared either. Payroll systems stopped functioning, jeopardizing timely wage and salary disbursements to employees. Major banks like JP Morgan saw their online platforms down, causing an interruption in transactions.
Retail outlets, especially those relying heavily on card payments, experienced temporary setbacks as well. Some UK supermarkets had isolated issues with payment systems but were able to resolve them later. In France, amidst preparations for the upcoming Olympic Games, some technical problems surfaced affecting broadcasting services and ticketing systems of several football clubs.
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