The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) fielded additional personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to address the needs of passengers whose flights were affected by a global information technology (IT) system outage on Friday, July 19.
In an advisory, MIAA General Manager Eric Jose Ines said that the agency monitored system issues affecting operations of two local airlines at NAIA, which the agency attributed to a cyber incident involving CrowdStrike, a global cybersecurity provider.
According to MIAA, CrowdStrike has identified widespread instances of "BSODs" or “Blue Screen of Deaths” on Windows hosts, indicating system crashes on Microsoft's Windows operating system.
Report said that Cebu Pacific and AirAsia Philippines were addressing system downtime due to disruption of Microsoft services.
Meanwhile, international carriers at NAIA remained unaffected as of 4 p.m.
“MIAA has mobilized additional manpower to manage extended queues at check-in counters and will provide ‘Malasakit Kits’ to affected passengers,” the MIAA advisory read.
The MIAA has yet to determine the total number of affected passengers as of this writing.
However, Ines has directed all terminal managers to closely monitor developments and offer necessary assistance to the passengers as required.
MIAA’s Medical Division was also placed on high alert to respond promptly to any medical emergencies.
A global cyber disruption has impacted critical services including flights, banking, and company operations in various countries including the Philippines due to the global IT system outage.