Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
Business Insider
Delta canceled more flights in 5 days after the CrowdStrike outage than it did in 2018 and 2019 combined
By Nora Redmond,
4 hours ago
Delta Air Lines canceled more flights in 5 days, after a CrowdStrike global outage, than in 2018 and 2019 combined, according to the Department of Transport and FlightAware.
Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
Delta canceled more flights in less than a week due to a global IT outage than it did in two years.
Between Friday and Tuesday, Delta canceled 5,470 flights. In 2018 and 2019, it canceled a combined 5,370.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said this week that an investigation would be launched into Delta.
Delta canceled more flights between Friday and Tuesday than it did in 2018 and 2019 combined following a mass IT outage connected to a flawed update issued by the Texas-based cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
There were 5,470 flight cancellations for the airline between Friday and Tuesday, per FlightAware , a flight tracking data platform.
It also represents significantly more cancellations than the 3,621 Delta reported for all of 2021. Cancellation numbers for 2020, 2022, and 2023 were significantly higher.
That data includes flights operated by Delta, and does not include codeshare partner flights.
The CrowdStrike issues caused disruptions to travel worldwide. United Airlines, American Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and others grounded flights and announced delays in the US. Passengers were hit with travel chaos in airports, with many waiting hours to retrieve luggage and rebook flights.
Delta struggled to restore operations to full capacity, resorting to manually rebooting each system affected by the meltdown as most airlines began to recover.
Delta told Business Insider in a statement it suspended solo children from flying "to protect minors from being separated from their families and caregivers in the event of flight disruptions or cancellations."
"We take seriously the trust caregivers place in us with their children's travel, and sincerely apologize that that trust was compromised through confusion around the embargo," Delta said.
The Department of Transport announced on Tuesday that it had opened an investigation into Delta. The transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, said on X the aim is to "ensure the airline is following the law and taking care of its passengers" during the period of disruption.
"All airline passengers have the right to be treated fairly, and I will make sure that right is upheld," he added.
Delta's CEO, Ed Bastian, said operations were expected to return to normal on Thursday. It canceled one flight on Thursday, as of 6.30am ET, according to FlightAware .
The airline said in a statement on Wednesday that "the number of misplaced bags continues to be significantly reduced by major initiatives at all Delta hubs to reunite customers with bags, by ground delivery or via operating flights."
It added that customer wait times for Delta's call center and messaging service have reduced.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments. It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency: our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. We strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation. Join us in shaping the news narrative together.
Comments / 0