Microsoft outage hits businesses, Air India and IndiGo issue alerts

A global Microsoft outage has disrupted businesses, financial services and government operations across several countries, with Outlook, Teams and Copilot among the affected services. In India, IndiGo has reported problems with email support, while Air India says its flight operations remain unaffected.

In Short

• Companies face disruption as Microsoft Office services encounter an outage
• Air India released an urgent alert amid the service disruption
• IndiGo also issued an urgent advisory during the Microsoft Office outage

Millions of people rely on Microsoft tools to get through their working day, but a disruption to the company's services has left businesses struggling to access emails and other workplace applications. The problem has also reached the aviation sector in India, where IndiGo and Air India have issued separate updates about the impact on their customer support systems.

For IndiGo passengers, the immediate problem is email communication. The airline has warned that its email support service is currently affected and that it may not receive messages sent by customers. Those looking for urgent help have been asked to contact 6E Skai through the airline's website or app. IndiGo said its other support channels are still available.

Air India has reported a different situation. The airline said the disruption has not affected its flights or customer communication channels. It has also moved its email traffic through alternative routes to ensure that incoming messages are not lost. According to the airline, customer emails are being answered within the regular 24-hour window.

Financial markets, businesses and government offices report problems

The Microsoft outage has disrupted work across India's financial services sector, with employees struggling to access research reports and conduct calls with clients. People working in equity markets told the BBC that they could not access daily research reports ahead of morning meetings, which are important for their market decisions.

A senior executive at an Indian brokerage said the company had an alternative for emails, but Microsoft Teams calls, particularly those involving major clients, had become difficult. The disruption has also affected financial professionals overseas. Rita Elkazzi, UBS Group's execution-sales head for Australia and New Zealand, told Bloomberg that she had switched to phone calls and alternative communication channels after Outlook stopped working.

"It's been a bit of a disaster and I can't believe still not resolved," Elkazzi said. She added that the situation required greater care while checking trade recaps and ensuring that transaction details were accurate.

Other businesses have also had to find alternative ways to communicate. Communications consultant Yazid Ahmad told the BBC that he had started sending emails to other companies through personal accounts on platforms such as Gmail. He said he was unsure whether he might miss an important email because of the disruption.

The outage has also affected government agencies and public institutions in several countries. Australia's intelligence and federal police agencies confirmed email-related problems, although officials indicated that the impact was limited. Mike Burgess, head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, said the issue was largely related to email systems.

Japan's government also reported disruption to its shared IT platform. However, Digital Minister Toshiharu Furukawa said government agencies had alternative communication options, including telephone, chat tools and text messages, allowing their operations to continue.

In Singapore, authorities said some government systems had been affected and warned that email disruptions could delay responses to public enquiries. The Philippines Supreme Court also cautioned that responses to emails and other transactions could be delayed.

The disruption has also affected AI companies. OpenAI said it was investigating an issue with its connections to Microsoft's services, which had caused some tools to not work as expected. Anthropic also identified problems affecting its links to Microsoft 365.

Cybersecurity expert Nicky Choo of Mimecast said the incident showed why businesses should not depend entirely on one technology provider. He advised companies to maintain alternative platforms and contingency plans to keep essential operations running during such outages.

Microsoft struggles to bring services back

The disruption has put Microsoft's recovery efforts under pressure, with the company yet to achieve a stable restoration across affected regions. Its services, including Outlook, Teams and Copilot, have experienced connectivity problems.

Microsoft has blamed the incident on an infrastructure overload. Some of its servers became unavailable unexpectedly, leaving the remaining systems to handle additional traffic. The company has been restarting infrastructure and applying fixes, but its earlier recovery attempts did not deliver lasting results.

In its latest update, Microsoft reported "marginal success" in addressing the problem. It is continuing to assess server performance and check whether the fixes are working properly.

The scale of the disruption has been considerable. Downdetector recorded close to 140,000 reports of Outlook problems at its peak on Thursday evening. Reports have also come in from at least 74 countries and territories.

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