Edinburgh Airport has been hit by a huge global IT outage, leaving some passengers in tears amid massive queues and flight delays and cancellations.
Banks, airlines and media companies have been taken offline as mass IT outages sweep across the globe, believed to be linked to Microsoft devices.
The tech giant said it is working to resolve the problem while flights have been grounded in some countries, with rail and air firms warning of “widespread IT issues”.
Edinburgh Airport urged passengers not to travel to the airport before checking the status of their flight first.
In an update after 10.40am, the airport told passengers whose flights had been cancelled to leave the airport and contact their airline for more information.
A post on X read: “Passengers impacted by cancellations are asked to please leave the airport and contact their airline for more information.
“Wait times continue to be longer than usual at the airport and our teams are managing this as best they can.”
Parking customers impacted by who incur overstay charges as a result, are being asked to press the buzzer as they exit the car park and charges will be waived.
The airport said earlier on Friday: “Passengers should not travel to the airport without first checking the status of their flight with their airline.
“The wait at security is currently around one hour due to the outage and our teams are managing this as best they can.”
A 16-year-old passenger was left in “floods of tears” fearing she could miss her flight to visit her father in the US.
Airport staff have warned passengers to expect security waits of “around one hour” amid major delays.
Travellers have shared their frustrations on social media, with one describing the situation as “complete chaos”.
It is understood Edinburgh is currently the only Scottish airport significantly impacted, however some individual airlines are affected.
Alison Mattu said her 16-year-old daughter Priya is travelling to Washington to visit her father but was in “floods of tears” as she worried she might miss her first flight to Dublin.
She made the connection, but her mother fears she could still miss her transatlantic flight.
She told the PA news agency: “It was chaos. People confused being sent outside all the way to the trams and car park, told (it was a) security issue.
“Panic setting in for those, including my 16-year-old daughter travelling alone to visit her father via Dublin to Dulles, Washington DC, if they missed their flight.
“She ran in floods of tears on the phone to me, distressed and worried sick.
“Happily, she made her first flight. Who knows about the other people travelling with young babies, elderly and non-English speakers.”
However, Ms Mattu said the airport staff were “amazing” at keeping people in the queues updated.
Writing on X, another traveller told of “complete chaos” at Edinburgh.
Tracy McQue added: “An hours queue to check in, another hour to the security gates, departure boards not working and lots of confused faces. Not sure if flights are actually taking off.”
Ryanair warned of “disruption across the network” due to the third-party system outage.
On the airline’s website, it posted: “Potential disruptions across the network (Fri July 19) due to a global third party system outage.
“Affected passengers will be notified and any passengers travelling across the network on Fri July 19 should check their Ryanair app for the latest updates on their flight.
“We advise passengers to arrive at the airport three hours in advance of their flight to avoid any disruptions.
“We regret any inconvenience caused to passengers by this third party IT issue, which is outside of Ryanair’s control and affects all airlines operating across the network.”
Both Glasgow and Aberdeen Airports said they were “largely unaffected” by the outage.
A post by both airports on X read: “We are largely unaffected by the current global IT issues.
“At present a small number of airlines have moved to manual check-in and some retailers are only accepting cash payments.”
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited, which owns 11 airports including Inverness, Barra and Sumburgh, said there were no reported issues.
A spokesperson for Prestwick Airport said no significant impact was reported for passengers.
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