Business

The fallout from a botched software update by CrowdStrike, which on July 19th triggered one of the biggest-ever IT outages, continued to disrupt firms around the world. By knocking out equipment relying on Microsoft Windows, the malfunction caused thousands of flights to be cancelled, hospital operations to be delayed and banks to temporarily cease trading. Some businesses may take weeks to recover. Insurers are preparing for losses stretching into the billions.

Aviation firms faced plenty of other woes, too. The owner of British Airways now seems unlikely to complete a takeover of Air Europa, after EU officials said it had done too little to assuage concerns that the deal would hurt competition. Ryanair’s chief executive said that he expected a fall in fares seen during the spring to be sustained into the summer. At the Farnborough Airshow, an industry jamboree, executives lamented a shortage of Airbus and Boeing planes.