SINGAPORE, 28 Sept 2017:
The check-in systems of affected airlines at Changi Airport have been restored after experiencing almost three hours of technical glitch.
Changi Airport has earlier issued an advisory saying that a technical issue was affecting the check-in systems of some airlines.
It was reported by Channel NewsAsia that airlines affected include Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Lufthansa.
Quoting Singapore Airlines, the report said that the airline became aware of the global outage of some of its systems at about 5.30pm.
According to Changi Airport’s website, today, a flight takes off or lands at Changi Airport approximately once every 100 seconds.
Over 100 airlines are flying to some 380 cities in about 80 countries and territories worldwide from Singapore.
International media reported that a software issue has caused check-in delays at several airports worldwide, and booking problems for many airlines.
Passengers reported problems at Gatwick, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Melbourne airports among others, said one report.
Gatwick blamed a passenger management system called Amadeus Altea but said the problem had been resolved and there were no further delays.
Amadeus said it had identified a “network issue” but that services were being restored, said the report.
This snafu comes a week after a man who worked as a baggage handler at Changi Airport swapped tags on hundreds of bags, sending the luggage to the wrong destinations, The Straits Times newspaper had reported.
Tay Boon Keh, a 63 year-old working as a baggage handler for a sub-contractor of the Changi Airport Group, was charged in court with 286 counts of mischief, the newspaper said.
He did not explain his actions, but intends to plead guilty, it said. The next hearing is on Oct 17, when, if convicted, he can be jailed for up to one year and fined for each charge.
Luggage originally bound for various parts of the world, including Perth, Manila, Frankfurt, London and San Francisco, was affected, according to court documents. Tay is believed to have changed baggage tags almost every day from November until February, they said.
An airport spokesman said there was no breach of security.
Nearly 59 million passengers used Changi Airport in 2016. The world’s sixth busiest airport for international traffic, it flies passengers to 380 cities on over 100 airlines and was voted the world’s best airport in 2017 by the Skytrax air travel consultancy.
It handles about 70,000 bags per day, according to the Changi Airport Group website.
– Agencies