NORFOLK, Va. — Hampton Roads was not spared Friday from technology issues impacting systems around the world. In fact, even News 3 was impacted.
But perhaps the biggest impact in Hampton Roads was here at Norfolk International Airport.
Watch: A list of Hampton Roads organizations impacted by global technical outage
“I’m just, like, ‘Please don’t get canceled,'" said Megan Murphy as she waited for her flight.
“You just have to grin and bear it basically," Joe Menzie said as he waited in the airport to be picked up.
Words from travelers trying to remain positive as they deal with flight disruptions at Norfolk International Airport.
Watch: Airlines recovering resuming service after global IT outage
“We are trying to make it as comfortable as possible for our passengers," Norfolk Airport Authority President & CEO Mark Perryman said.
Perryman described the morning as a little chaotic at times, but around noon said the situation seemed to be improving.
“When we learned of the issue early this morning, we activated our emergency operations center," Perryman explained.
Airport staff started handing out water and helping travelers and other workers as much as they could.
Murphy had been looking forward to her flight to Chicago for months, but had it delayed Friday.
“My cousin is in the Air Force and he’s home right now. I’m just, like, ‘Please, just let me go see my family,'" said Murphy.
Watch: Norfolk airport has record number of people screened by TSA in a day
Menzie flew in from New York State and says his flight was delayed about two hours.
“There was a lot of consternation about meeting your next flight because a lot of people were connecting to flights," said Menzie.
Elsewhere, the Norfolk Tides and area hospitals reported impacts from the technology issues and News 3’s morning newscast wasn’t able to air.
“It’s been chaotic," News 3 Engineer Hannah Bocks said when asked about the morning.
Bocks and the News 3 engineering team spent hours Friday working to get the station back up and running.
“It’s frustrating because it’s something that’s out of our control and we just do the best we can to work with the company involved and wait for their patch," Bocks said.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin released a statement on Friday morning, saying, in part, critical health and safety systems, including 911 call centers and transportation infrastructure were operational in Virginia.
Amidst the global tech outages, overnight we have conducted an initial assessment to determine impacts across government agencies and departments for functionality. Critical health and safety systems, including 911 call systems and transportation infrastructure, are operational.
— Governor Glenn Youngkin (@GovernorVA) July 19, 2024
Virginia U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine also commented, saying this shows the need for redundancy.
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