Thousands of flights grounded due to Microsoft Azure system issue

Chaos at US airports as airlines struggle to recover

Delays and cancellations continue, affecting thousands of passengers

A major problem with Microsoft's Azure system has caused widespread disruption to air travel in the United States. All flights from several major US airlines including Delta, United and American Airlines were grounded Friday morning due to the issue. As of noon, more than 7,300 flights within, to and out of the US had been delayed, according to the online flight tracker FlightAware.

The problem began early Friday morning, when Microsoft's Azure system experienced a widespread outage. The outage affected a range of services, including the check-in and booking systems used by many airlines. As a result, airlines were unable to process passenger check-ins or issue boarding passes, leading to long delays and cancellations.

The airline has canceled 121 flights Thursday and delayed 225 others, making up 30% of its flights, according to data tracker FlightAware. Normal air traffic operations were resuming across the US on Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration said after an overnight...