200 flights canceled at Schiphol after Windows outage; Eindhoven airport restarts system

About 200 flights were canceled on Friday due to the worldwide computer failure, which also affected Schiphol Airport. Schiphol's systems are now up and running again, but the Windows outage significantly impacted flights to and from the Amsterdam airport.

The outage caused very large crowds. On Friday morning, KLM was forced to largely suspend flight operations and asked passengers not to come to Schiphol if their flight was canceled or delayed.

In addition to the flight cancellations, Schiphol experienced numerous delays due to a computer failure caused by a faulty update at cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike. In an update on its website, the airport speaks of 150 delayed flights.

The airport said that travelers will have to wait longer at the check-in desks and security control. "Tomorrow, we expect a busy day due to the summer vacations. We advise travelers to keep an eye on their current flight information," Schiphol informed.

On Friday evening, Eindhoven Airport reported that systems at the airport are being restarted after problems caused by the global computer failure. Employees "continue to work hard" to get passengers to their destination as quickly as possible, the airport wrote on X.

The systems are being restarted at @EINairport Together with the handlers and airlines we work hard to get all passengers to their destinations as soon as possible. We do not expect disruptions in the operation tomorrow that have to do with the international IT-issue.

— Eindhoven Airport (@EINairport) July 19, 2024

Earlier, the airport reported problems with checking in hold luggage and passengers, which had to be done manually due to the malfunction. As a result, several flights were canceled, and many others were delayed. Eindhoven Airport does not expect any more disruption on Saturday as a result of the malfunction, which started with an update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike for Windows systems.

Due to this malfunction, it was impossible to link airline data to check-ins, an airport spokeswoman explains. Check-in was, therefore, done manually. The Eindhoven Airport website has so far listed ten canceled flights that were supposed to depart from the Brabant airport.