Source: AFP
The first flights left Eindhoven airport in the Netherlands late Wednesday after a computer outage grounded planes for hours and affected government services, with authorities saying they had identified the cause.
Planes were grounded for hours at the southeast regional airport that normally carries passengers to 30 international destinations.
Earlier, passengers were taken to other airports by bus amid chaotic scenes, national news agency ANP reported.
“The first plane of the day has just departed,” Eindhoven airport said on its website, but advised passengers to continue to check flight schedules.
The country’s main airport, Schiphol near Amsterdam, which is a major European hub, was not affected.
Meanwhile, the Dutch defense ministry — which had been blamed as the source of the online outage — said systems were slowly being rebooted, warning it would take several hours.
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“We have identified the cause and will provide more information once we have the full picture,” the ministry said on X, formerly Twitter.
“There is currently no indication that this is an act with malicious intent,” he added.
The outage also affected other public services in the Netherlands.
The Coast Guard said in an earlier statement that it was “unreachable” because of the outage, either by phone or radio. He urged people in an emergency to call the emergency number 112.
The military police communications center was also unreachable, authorities said. It was also not possible to make an appointment for a Covid vaccine.
Last month, the world’s airlines, banks and media were thrown into chaos by one of the biggest IT accidents in recent years, caused by an update to an anti-virus program.
Source: AFP
