Microsoft Resolves Global Azure Cloud Outage Affecting Airlines, Telecoms, and Websites

Microsoft announced late Wednesday that it had resolved a widespread outage of its Azure cloud platform that disrupted global industries and Microsoft’s own productivity tools. The outage, lasting over eight hours, caused significant issues across key services including Azure Communication Services and Media Services.

According to Microsoft, while most systems have returned to normal, a small number of customers may still experience intermittent issues. “Error rates and latency are back to pre-incident levels,” Azure stated, adding that efforts continue to address lingering effects.

The outage began around 12 p.m. ET and primarily affected Azure Front Door, a global cloud-based content and application delivery network. This disruption triggered cascading issues for various clients and platforms relying on Azure infrastructure.

Among the most heavily impacted was Alaska Airlines, which reported system disruptions affecting its website and internal operations. The airline confirmed that its systems were gradually restored following Microsoft’s resolution. London’s Heathrow Airport and Vodafone also experienced outages, with both services eventually resuming normal operations.

Microsoft 365 services were indirectly affected, reporting “downstream impact” before confirming that the issue was fully resolved later in the day.

According to Downdetector, user reports of Azure issues peaked at more than 18,000 before dropping to just 230 by 6:49 p.m. ET. Similarly, Microsoft 365 outage reports declined from nearly 20,000 to 77 by 10:44 p.m. ET.

This incident follows last week’s major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage, which disrupted major websites and apps like Snapchat and Reddit. Both events underscore the vulnerabilities of today’s interconnected digital infrastructure, where a single cloud provider’s failure can ripple across global industries.