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Businesses including banks, airlines, train companies, telecommunications companies, TV and radio broadcasters, and supermarkets have been taken offline following a mass global outage.

Major US airlines, including American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines have been grounded, while airports in Germany, Amsterdam and Spain are also reporting issues.

It is believed the issue is related to an issue at global cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike and Microsoft – although it is unknown if it is the same issue affecting airports and train services across the globe.

Microsoft said on Friday morning that it was continuing to address the “lingering impact” of its 365 applications and services that are in a “degraded state” while Crowdstrike said in an automated message that it was aware of reports of crashes.

The outage appears to be affecting Windows PCs globally, including Sky News in the UK which is not able to broadcast live TV first thing on Friday morning.

UK airports ‘experiencing delays’

London’s biggest airport, Heathrow, said in a statement that its “flights are operational although we are experiencing delays”.

It said it was implementing contingency plans to minimise any impact on journeys and passengers are advised to check with their airline for the latest flight information.

Luton Airport also said it was aware of the global IT issue and is currently using manual systems to support operations.

Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, warned customers of potential disruptions which it said would affect “all airlines operating across the network,” though it did not specify the nature of the disruptions.

Passengers at Edinburgh Airport were unable to use automated boarding pass scanners and monitors and security displayed a message saying “server offline”, according to a Reuters witness.

The airport had reverted to checking boarding passes manually, the witness said.

The Metropolitan Police said it has not been affected, and everything seems to be working normally, while some GP surgeries have reported problems.

Grimethorpe Surgery in Barnsley said it had no access to the clinical system, pointing to an issue with EMIS Web – a system that allows healthcare practitioners to view and contribute to a patient’s healthcare records.

Another surgery in Putney, south west London, also shows an error message online when patients attempt to book. – www.news.sky.com