The operations of global airlines including Kenya Airways (KQ) have been thrown into disarray today following a major tech outage that hit other industries, including banks, broadcasters, and hospitals.

In an update to travelers and stakeholders on Friday, Kenya Airways said, "We are currently experiencing a system outage that has affected our booking system as a result of a global system outage."

"Customers are advised to expect slower than usual service as we implement our business continuity plan," added KQ.

Among the banks affected in Kenya by IT system outage are NCBA and DTB. The later sent a notice to customers saying, "We are currently experiencing a system interruption due to a global outage that is affecting some of our services. Please be advised that there may be delays in some DTB services during this time."

According to Reuters, major airlines in the US were forced to ground their flights, even as other airlines around the world reported persistent delays and disruptions to their operations.

In Britain, Australia and Germany, the tech outage affected other institutions, including media companies, banks, and well as telcos in what experts perceive is a disruption closely related to an issue at international cybersecurity giant Crowdstrike.

Reuters reported that an update to a product offered by CrowdStrike that opens a new tab affecting customers using Microsoft's Windows Operating System appeared to be the trigger. Later on Friday, software giant Microsoft said the issue had been fixed.

Commenting on X (formerly Twitter), CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said the company was "actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts" and that a fix was being deployed. "Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack," he noted.

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