AVIATION experts have called for proper safety measures as a technical glitch disrupts millions of passengers’ flights and $841.4 billion global aviation business.
The experts also called for improved software management in the Information technological space to avert future recurrence.
“We might need to learn a few lessons here from the global technological glitch, most importantly constant system software upgrade,” an aviation expert, Roland Iyayi told The ICIR.
Already, Crowdstrike, the firm that released a software update responsible for the global IT systems failures, has tendered an apology for the glitch.
The ICIR reported that Crowdstrike’s CEO, George Kurtz, stated that it was neither a security incident nor a cyberattack.
The technical glitch affected Delta’s flight from Lagos-Atlanta flight. Other globally affected airlines are United, Southwest Airlines, and JetBlue.
According to Cirium, an aviation analytics company, this outage has thrown the travel plans of millions into disarray, leading to chaotic scenes at airports as passengers struggled to rebook flights and make alternate arrangements.
The outage, which has crippled several crucial airline systems, underscores the vulnerability of modern aviation infrastructure to technological failures.
In Nigeria, Delta Airlines, on Friday, July 19, delayed its scheduled noon flight from Lagos to Atlanta, United States, due to technical issues.
The operator announced in a statement on Friday that all its flights were temporarily paused as it worked to resolve a vendor technology problem.
Aviation experts believe some lessons must be learned as it was not the first time the technical glitch had happened at the global stage.
“It’s not the first time this is happening. I have been in the sector for so long and I can attest to this. The most important thing is that we take safety precautions seriously and keep updating our software to enable us to align with global technological trends,” former commandant at Murtala Mohammed International Airport and aviation security expert, John Ojikutu, told The ICIR.
He added that when Nigerian Airways was flying to Rome, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and London, there were issues like this, and they were well handled.
He warned politicians not to replace professionals with friends and allies who could not handle developments like the July 19 technical glitch.
As a result of the crisis, officials at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos said they were awaiting signals from Atlanta, US, to determine when the flight could depart.
“No signals have been received yet. Certainly, the flight won’t go as planned,” one official, who declined to be named said.
Delta stated, “Any customers whose flights are impacted will be notified by Delta via the Fly Delta app and text message. Customers should use the Fly Delta app for updates.”
The airline apologised for the inconvenience and said it would notify affected customers via its app and text message.
Delta added that reports indicated other airlines might also be impacted.
Turkey’s flag carrier, Turkish Airlines, also confirmed it was affected by the massive global IT outage on Friday, according to the BBC.
A spokesperson said that as of 13:00 local time (11:00 BST), 84 of its flights to and from Istanbul and various locations across Europe were cancelled.
Turkish Airlines’ low-cost carrier, AJet, also reported experiencing disruptions to online ticketing, reservations, and call centres.
The airline apologised for the inconvenience and said flights would “gradually return to normal.”
The ICIR reported that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has advised pilots and airline operators to delay, cancel, or divert flights whenever they are threatened with visibility or other crises.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.