Microsoft outage recovery underway; denies link to US flight groundings

Microsoft is addressing a widespread outage affecting Outlook, Teams, and other Microsoft 365 services, which began Thursday and disrupted email, calendars, and workplace communication for users across 72 countries. The company says recovery is underway and denies any link to the US FAA's nationwide ground stop that halted thousands of flights. The outage was triggered by a technical snag during an earlier network capacity upgrade, which surfaced after a recent network change, Microsoft said. The issue has been addressed, with broad recovery and stability reported, though restoration was gradual due to high demand. Downdetector logged complaints from Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region, impacting businesses and government agencies. Microsoft confirmed no indication that its services caused the FAA ground stop, which halted or cancelled at least 7,000 US flights, with some carriers potentially suspending operations for the rest of Friday. The company is reviewing the incident to prevent future issues and monitoring residual service problems.