Delta Struggles to Recover from Outage, Thousands of Flights Canceled
Delta Air Lines has cancelled over 1,300 flights on Sunday, significantly disrupting travel plans during one of the busiest weekends of the summer. The cancellations were primarily due to a global software outage caused by a flawed update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which affected Microsoft's Windows operating system. The outage impacted several airlines, including Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and United Airlines, but Delta was the most affected.
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has criticized Delta's handling of the situation, urging the airline to provide prompt refunds and adequate assistance to stranded customers. The outage caused significant issues with Delta's crew-tracking system, leading to further delays and cancellations. Delta CEO Ed Bastian acknowledged the impact on the airline's operations and the challenges in processing the large volume of changes to flight personnel.
As of Monday, Delta has continued to experience disruptions, cancelling an additional 137 flights and leaving many travelers stranded. While other airlines have largely recovered from the incident, Delta has struggled to return to normal operations. The airline has not provided a clear timetable for when services will resume fully.
