Microsoft Azure Services Recovering After Global Outage
Microsoft Azure is showing strong signs of recovery after a major global outage that disrupted productivity software and affected industries worldwide. The company reported it was tracking toward full mitigation by 7:20 PM ET.
Key Takeaways
- Azure services recovering after global outage affecting multiple regions
- Major airlines, airports, and telecom companies experienced disruptions
- Outage traced to configuration change in Azure infrastructure
- User reports dropped from 18,000+ to just 230 by evening
Major Service Disruptions
The outage impacted Alaska Airlines’ key systems including its website on Wednesday, October 29, 2025. Britain’s Heathrow Airport’s website was affected but later restored, while Vodafone also reported service disruptions due to the Azure outage.
Affected Services and Recovery
Microsoft confirmed affected services included Azure Communication Services and Media Services. The company stated on its status page: “Azure is seeing strong signs of improvement across affected regions and are tracking toward full mitigation” by 7:20 PM ET.
According to Downdetector, user reports for Azure issues dropped dramatically from over 18,000 at peak to just 230 by 6:49 PM ET. Microsoft 365 outage reports also decreased from nearly 11,700 to 377 users during the same period.
Root Cause and Timeline
The outage began around 12 PM ET when customers using Azure Front Door experienced timeouts and errors. Microsoft attributed the disruption to a recent configuration change to a portion of Azure infrastructure.
Broader Context
This Microsoft outage follows last week’s Amazon AWS disruption that caused global turmoil across thousands of sites and popular apps like Snapchat and Reddit. The AWS incident was the largest internet disruption since last year’s CrowdStrike malfunction that affected hospitals, banks, and airports.
