Flight operations 'fully resumed' at TPA after disruption from global tech outage

TAMPA, Fla. - Much of the world faced online disarray Friday as a widespread technology outage affected companies and services across industries — grounding flights, knocking banks and hospital systems offline and media outlets off-air.

Local impacts left passengers at Tampa International Airport scrambling with canceled or delayed flights.

At the heart of the massive disruption is CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that provides software to scores of companies worldwide. 

Airline employee at Tampa International Airport on Friday morning

The company says the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows, and that the issue behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack.

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In a Friday post on social media platform X, President and CEO George Kurtz cited a "defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts" — noting that Mac and Linux hosts were not impacted.

Kurtz released the following statement on the outage:

"CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. 

"We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website. We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers."

Despite the fix, flight delays lingered throughout the day at TPA.

Since then, TPA reported that all flight operations have resumed. 

Microsoft 365 posted on X that the company was "working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more expedient fashion" and that they were "observing a positive trend in service availability."

Disruptions on Friday have continued hours after CrowdStrike first identified the issue. But both the company and Microsoft say that they're working to get systems back online.

In an emailed statement, Crowdstrike said that it was "actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts" — adding that a fix "had been deployed" for the identified issue.

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According to the company's website, CrowdStrike was founded in 2011 and launched in early 2012. CrowdStrike listed on the Nasdaq exchange five years ago. Last month, the Austin, Texas company reported that its revenue rose 33% in the last quarter from the same quarter a year earlier — logging a net profit of $42.8 million, up from $491,000 in the first quarter of last year.

The FAA said the airlines United, American, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded amid the global outage. 

In a statement, United said it was resuming some flights but told travelers to "expect schedule disruptions to continue throughout Friday."

American also shared a statement, noting it had been able to "safely re-establish" operations after issuing a ground stop on departing flights. 

A Delta Air Lines spokesperson said that all affected customers would be notified on the Fly Delta App and with text messages.

The Associated Press and FOX Digital contributed to this report.