Frontier Airlines Grounds Flights Due to Microsoft Outage, Impacting Allegiant Air and Sun Country

On Thursday, a widespread disruption hit the operations of several major airlines, stemming from a significant outage within Microsoft networks. This issue not only impacted the tech giant but also caused setbacks in the computer systems of prominent low-cost carriers such as Frontier Airlines, Allegiant Air, and Sun Country Airlines.

Microsoft Networks Outage Impact

The disruptive incident, which originated in Microsoft networks, led to critical hurdles for the affected airlines. According to Microsoft's Azure status page, the outage commenced at 5:56 p.m. and had far-reaching consequences, affecting multiple systems utilized by customers in the central United States. 

Frontier Airlines' Response

Frontier Airlines, in response to the challenges inflicted by the Microsoft outage, issued a statement notifying the public about the situation's impact on their systems. The airline conveyed that the outage hindered various essential functions such as booking, check-in procedures, access to boarding passes, and ultimately caused disruptions to certain flights. 

FAA Notice and Subsequent Actions

As a result of the network issues, Frontier Airlines was compelled to implement a temporary ground stop for all its flights. This measure, as indicated in a notice on the Federal Aviation Administration's website, caused a sudden halt in the departure of the airline's flights. However, the ground stop was fortunately lifted after approximately 35 minutes, allowing the resumption of normal flight operations. 

Impact on Other Carriers

The reverberations of the Microsoft networks outage were also felt by other low-cost carriers, namely Allegiant Air and Sun Country Airlines, as their computer systems grappled with the unexpected disruptions.