Porter Hardest Hit Canadian Airline in Global IT Failure, Banks ‘Reviewing the Situation’

Porter Airlines staff direct travellers at Billy Bishop Airport in Toronto on Friday, July 19, 2024. Porter Airlines delayed flights as a global tech outage affected flights at the airline. The Canadian Press/Christopher Katsarov

A global IT outage on July 19 disrupted flights, banking, and more internationally, but Canadian airlines reported they were relatively unaffected.

Porter Airlines was an exception. The airline cancelled flights until 3 p.m. July 19 due to the outages, according to an update posted to platform X. Air Canada and WestJet said their operations were not impacted. Sunwing and Flair operations also remained unaffected, said Toronto Pearson International Airport in a post on X.

Canadian banks The Epoch Times reached out to all referred to a statement by the Canadian Banking Association spokesperson Maggie Cheung.

“Like many other companies, banks in Canada are reviewing the situation based on updates from their technology partners,” Ms. Cheung said. “Canadians can be reassured that our country has a well-protected banking system. Any current impact on banking services would be temporary.”

The outage was caused by a defect in a Windows software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts,” CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said on X. “Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”

Canada Border Services Agency experienced a partial systems outage of its telephone reporting system usually used by small aircraft passengers and boaters, a spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email. The issue has been resolved, and no other systems have been affected.

Rogers Communications Inc. said the outage did not affect its phone and internet networks, nor the media outlets it owns.

Health services have not been majorly impacted. University Health Network, one of Canada’s largest hospital networks, said some of its systems were affected. In an update posted on X at 10 a.m. ET, UHN said it was continuing work to restore the systems.

“Clinical activity continues although some delays are possible. In instances where an appointment may need to be rescheduled, patients will be contacted by their care team,” UHN said.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.