Sky News and other international broadcasters suffered outages on Friday morning amid a global tech meltdown linked to Microsoft systems.

Airlines, banks, and train operators, including Croatia Control which provides the highest level of air traffic control safety, have also been impacted. United, Delta, and American Airlines issued a “global ground stop” on all flights.

The precise reason for the outages has not been confirmed. Microsoft said it was investigating issues that have prevented users from accessing apps and services. CrowdStrike, a major cybersecurity company, reportedly issued an antivirus update that looks to have created problems for Microsoft systems.

The US cyber security company has admitted to being responsible for the error and said  ‘fix has been deployed’. The firm said it was caused by a ‘defect found in a single content update’ and insisted the issue ‘was not a security incident or cyberattack’.

Transport Minister: Croatia Control impacted by  global tech outage

Technical issues similar to those reported by numerous institutions and companies worldwide have also affected Croatia’s Air Traffic Control, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Sea, Transport, and Infrastructure, Oleg Butkovic, said on Friday.

“I received information this morning that Croatia Control is experiencing some difficulties. Operations are functioning normally, but there is a malfunction in the administrative program they use. This is not a cyberattack but a fault within the program,” Butkovic said in Crikvenica, where he was attending the official opening of the upgraded and reconstructed Podvorska Port.

He stressed that Croatia’s Air Traffic Control operates normally and that its operations are not compromised. State services are involved in resolving the issue.

The Croatia Control website is currently inaccessible.

Travel disruption

The travel industry was among the hardest hit with airports around the world, including Tokyo, Amsterdam, Berlin, London Gatwick, Edinburgh and several Spanish airports reporting problems with their systems and delays.

The aviation sector is hit particularly hard due to its sensitivity to timings. Airlines rely on a closely coordinated schedule often run by air traffic control. Just one delay of a few minutes can throw off a flight schedule for take-offs and landings for an airport and airline for the rest of the day.

A health booking system used by doctors in England is also offline, medical officials said on X on Friday.