Ryanair and Wizz Air grounded as third-party IT outage disrupts flights

Ryanair is experiencing significant disruptions due to a global IT system outage. Ticket sales and online check-in for flights with the low-cost airline are unavailable. The carrier has issued a statement.

"We're currently experiencing disruption across the network due to a global third party IT outage which is out of our control,'' Ryanair said. "We advise all passengers to arrive at the airport at least three hours before their scheduled departure time," Ryanair said.

On Friday, a series of technical glitches disrupted the services of airlines, banks, and the London Stock Exchange. American Airlines flights were cancelled, and Swiss companies Swissport—responsible for ground handling—and Swissguide, which provides air traffic control services, were also affected.

The German Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (BER) temporarily suspended operations on Friday morning due to severe technical problems. A spokesperson for the airport told rbb that no planes were taking off or landing.

Wizz Air, Ryanair's main competitor, is facing the same issues. "Like all airlines today, Wizz Air faces extreme technical challenges with the outage of 3rd party global IT systems. Wizz Air customers may experience disruptions across the network with website and mobile application services temporarily unavailable," Wizz Air said in a statement.

In this case, the website, ticket sales system, online check-in, and tool for changing existing travel reservations are not functioning. The carrier advised passengers to arrive at the airport three hours before departure.