Delta faces flight delays, cancellations days after global tech outage

Delta Air Lines is still struggling to get back on track days after a global tech outage temporarily hindered airline operations. 

By 11 a.m. ET on Monday, Delta had the most flight disruptions, with about 19% of its flights (more than 700) canceled as of 11 a.m. ET, according to data from flight tracking site FlightAware. Roughly 13% of its flights are delayed.

In comparison, about 43 American Airlines flights were canceled and 10% were delayed. United Airlines didn’t have any reported cancellations, though 2% of its flights were delayed, according to FlightAware data.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OUTAGE DISRUPTS MAJOR AIRLINES, 911 SERVICES AND BUSINESSES

Austin-based CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. said a “defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts” caused a global computer outage last week that impacted airlines, emergency services, banks, hospitals and other businesses. 

Between Friday and as of 10 a.m. ET Monday, there have been 35,000 delays throughout the U.S. and 8,500 cancelations, FlightAware spokesperson Kathleen Bangs told FOX Business.

Delta has had 4,500 cancellations over that span. Its regional carrier Endeavor had about 800.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg posted on X that hundreds of complaints regarding service disruptions at Delta have been filed with the department.

Delta canceled more than 1,200 flights on Friday. Another 1,867 were delayed, according to FlightAware. That was more than any other major U.S. carrier at the time. 

WHAT IS CROWDSTRIKE, THE COMPANY LINKED TO THE GLOBAL TECH OUTAGE

Travelers wait at check-in counters at Berlin Airport during the IT outage this morning (Sean Gallup/Getty Images / Getty Images)

CEO Ed Bastian apologized in a note to customers on Sunday, saying that the carrier understands “how difficult it can be when your travels are disrupted” and that the carrier was still working to recover its systems and restore its operation. 

The issue, Bastian said, is that “a significant number of applications,” including its crew tracking-related tools, rely on the Microsoft Windows operating system.

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Because of the outage, the airline was unable to “effectively process the unprecedented number of changes triggered by the system shutdown,” Bastian said.

He also noted that the incident occurred on the busiest travel weekend of the summer for the carrier. Delta’s booking loads exceeded 90%, which also limited the carrier’s re-accommodation capabilities.

Delta said its contacting significantly impacted customers via email and issuing them either SkyMiles Program miles or a travel voucher.