TAMPA, Fla. — A widespread Microsoft outage has disrupted multiple airlines and flights at three Florida airports in the Orlando area and Tampa Friday morning, but operations are starting to return to normal.

The technology company said it was gradually fixing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.

Tampa International Airport, Orlando International Airport and Orlando Sanford International Airport reported several flight delays and cancellations early Friday because of the Microsoft outage. Tampa and Orlando International indicated that flight operations have returned to normal but that some airlines might still have delays or cancellations.

The Federal Aviation Administration stated it is closely monitoring a technical issue that has affected U.S. airlines including Delta, United, American and Allegiant. It reported that all flights with those carriers are grounded. View the FAA list of major airports currently closed across the U.S.

Microsoft 365 posted on X that the company was “working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more expedient fashion” and that they were “observing a positive trend in service availability.”

Anyone who is traveling Friday should check with their airline before heading out the door.

Jean Bernier said he learned that his United Airlines flight out of TPA was cancelled as he was about to travel to his terminal.

He said he did not get any notification from the airline or the airport, but found out about the outage from friends.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Bernier said. “I guess I’m just trying to keep a cool head. I definitely don’t like it by any means, but there’s not much to do about it other than fix the problem, I guess.” 

Meanwhile, St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport canceled its morning Allegiant flights.

Several travelers at the Orlando International Airport said they had no idea about the outage and did not see any impacts to their flights.

Travelers at the Orlando International Airport are experience flight delays and cancellations due to the Microsoft outage Friday morning. (Spectrum News/Jaclyn Harold)

However, one traveler, Aliyah Whilke, said her 5:30 a.m. Delta flight was canceled and that the airline rebooked her flight to Friday afternoon.

“I was supposed to be on the first flight out this morning at 5:30. I’ve waited two hours to get rebooking of tickets. Just now got my new tickets and now I will be flying out at 1 p.m.” said Aliyah Whilke.

Another family said they experienced a minor delay in their flight to Buffalo. They said they were told the flight is delayed arriving from Pittsburgh.

The flight board at the Orlando International Airport shows that more of the arriving flights have been impacted, with a few departing flights also experiencing delays.

A few airlines have addressed the issue, including American Airlines, saying it has been able to safely re-establish its operations. 

However, flights could still be impacted throughout the day due to the temporary grounding of airlines.