Manual check-ins for over 10 airlines at Changi Airport after outage hits transport firms globally

SINGAPORE - More than 10 airlines at Changi Airport were hit by a

major technology outage that downed systems around the world

on July 19.

This forced check-in processes for these carriers, including the issuance of boarding passes, to be handled manually.

The disruption also delayed a number of departing flights and caused snaking queues to form at the airport’s check-in counters.

Beyond Singapore, flights in the US and Germany had to be grounded as the information technology blackout wreaked havoc on air travel and other transport systems, including railway services in Britain.

According to data from aviation analytics company Cirium, there were about 1,390 flights cancelled globally, as at 6pm Singapore time.

Of the 490 scheduled flights from Singapore on July 19, only one was cancelled. But more than 40 were delayed owing to the outage, The Straits Times understands.

The affected airlines included Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) budget arm Scoot, Jetstar, AirAsia and Cebu Pacific Air.

At about 9.20pm, hours after its flight reservation and check-in systems were disrupted, screens at Scoot’s manual check-in counters at Changi Airport Terminal 1 (T1) still showed a message saying its systems were down.

By then, about half of the airline’s self-check-in kiosks were back up and running, according to ST’s observations, but throngs of people were still seen queueing at the terminal’s departure hall, waiting to check in.

To support manual check-ins at the airport, more resources had to be brought in, said operator Changi Airport Group (CAG) in an update on Facebook just before 7pm.

Airport ground staff were on hand to help passengers, especially those with impending departure times, CAG said.

The airport’s service ambassadors and Scoot staff were seen handing out snacks and drinks to affected travellers. Flight information was also scribbled on whiteboards at T1.

According to social media posts, Scoot’s self-check-in kiosks at T1 stopped working on the afternoon of July 19. Some passengers with mobile boarding passes complained about being denied entry to their flights.

Scoot’s systems at Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan and Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia appeared to also have been affected.

In a statement on Facebook at about 11.20pm, Scoot said services affected by the outage had been fully restored, and bookings and online check-in systems were back to normal.

SIA said on Facebook at about 4.20pm that its reservation hotlines and services at its service centre in Ion Orchard mall were experiencing technical issues due to the global disruption.

But there was no impact on the national carrier’s flights, which were operating as scheduled.

In a Facebook update at 6.55pm, SIA said the affected services were back to normal.

A Jetstar Asia spokeswoman recommended that customers check the status of their flights before leaving for the airport.

“There are no cancellations of our flights – just a couple of delays,” the spokeswoman added.

Similarly, Cebu Pacific Air said on Facebook that it was handling processes affected by the technical issue manually, which could cause delays.

“We are working closely with our teams to mitigate disruptions to our operations and will provide regular updates as the situation progresses,” it wrote.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said it was working with CAG, Home Team agencies and ground handlers at Changi Airport to help affected passengers.

At T1, anxiety hung in the air as passengers fretted about whether the disruption would cause them to miss their flights. Some were upset, while others took it in their stride.

Data engineer Soh Ping Boon, 33, who was going to Penang for a holiday with his family of seven, said he reached Changi Airport at about 5.50pm to check in for a 7.45pm Scoot flight.

But he was told the check-in system was down and Scoot’s counters were still processing flights meant to depart between 4pm and 5pm.

“We were quite panicky because there were no clear instructions on what time our flight would be. We also saw from news articles that there were people who didn’t get on their flight.”

Ms Chia Shanning, 25, who works in social services, said she had no issues checking in at Changi Airport at about 11am for her AirAsia flight to Penang, which was supposed to depart at 1.50pm.

But an announcement was made around noon that the flight would be delayed until 3.30pm.

The flight was then delayed a second time, and Ms Chia was able to get on the plane only at 4.30pm.

Instead of scanning her boarding pass, she said staff at the boarding gate checked each passenger’s ticket, and used highlighters to strike off a printed list. “It was quite fast.”

Ms Leong Sheen Ee, 40, was supposed to take a 5pm Scoot flight to Kuala Lumpur. The finance professional had to queue for about two hours before she was issued a boarding pass.

Her flight was also delayed.

Ms Leong told ST that she had tried several times to check in online from about noon, but Scoot’s website was down. So she rushed to the airport, reaching at about 3.30pm to find a large crowd had gathered at T1’s departure hall.

“Everyone was quite confused, and the staff there told us to just queue up. They said they would call out to us when our flight was about to depart,” she said.

Ms Leong was also boarded at the gate using pen and paper.

“People were quite calm. I guess it is because it is a global outage and not Scoot’s fault,” she added.

The global IT outage also affected several Singapore transport companies, including taxi firm ComfortDelGro and public transport operator SBS Transit.

For a few hours, a number of payment methods such as PayLah, Nets and Cabcharge were unavailable on CDG Zig, ComfortDelGro’s ride-hailing app.

Meanwhile, SBS Transit’s website and mobile app also went down because of the outage, before being restored at about 6.20pm. The disruption did not affect its bus and train services, which operated as usual throughout the day.

In Malaysia, the ticketing system of railway service provider Keretapi Tanah Melayu was found to be malfunctioning at about 1pm. Its service fully came back online by 5.21pm.

There were also widespread IT issues across Britain’s rail network, with National Rail warning of possible train service cancellations.