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IT malfunction at PIA brings down operations

Written by Ali Raza ·  1 min read >

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) became victim to a system malfunction which disrupted its operations on Monday.

PIA suffered a major blow in operations following a malfunction to its IT department. At around 9 AM on Monday, a system malfunction-plagued the PIA, that its operations could not go on anymore. Flight schedules would not be kept owing to the system malfunction. Also affected was the booking of flights from their online portal.

A report from the PIA officials indicated that they are yet to establish what caused the system malfunction. While speculation could be that there was a hack, others point to a normal system malfunction without a third party being involved. However, until an official report is released concerning the issue, nothing final can be said.

The PIA is not the only airline to have been hit by the system malfunction. During the past week, British Airways was hit by a similar attack in which most of its operations were crippled. At least 60% of the airline’s flights from Heathrow Airport were canceled following the system malfunction. Given that it is one of the largest airlines on the globe, that meant that thousands of passengers would miss out on their flights. The airline is slowly getting back to business after the attack.

Cases of attacks on corporations have seen to the delays in operations in various capacities. The system malfunction that the British Airways was a victim of was a widespread attack in which there was a power failure on a global scale on Saturday. As hackers get clever, their ways of bringing down organizations keep getting better.

For most airlines such as the British Airways, a single day of missed flights translates into millions of dollars in losses. While comparably smaller to the British Airways, the PIA also incurred major losses during the system failure. Experts are on the case to ensure that the issue is resolved fully.