Why Delta is still canceling flights as other airlines return to normal

Chris Isidore, CNN

New York (CNN) — Three days aft a machine update problem caused much than 5,000 formation cancellations astir nan world, things are beautiful overmuch backmost to normal — isolated from astatine Delta Air Lines.

Atlanta-based Delta canceled 1,500 flights connected Friday, aliases much than a 3rd of its schedule. That’s much than immoderate different hose successful nan world, according to formation search work FlightAware. It grounded astir 3,000 much flights complete nan weekend, and early Monday had already canceled 700 much flights, aliases astir 60% of flights canceled by each airlines worldwide. Most different US airlines had only 1% of its flights canceled, compared to astir 1 retired of each six scheduled Delta flights.

In a statement to customers Sunday, Delta CEO Ed Bastian apologized for nan disruptions and attributed nan problem to nan machine programme affecting its “crew tracking” software.

“One of our unit tracking-related devices was affected and incapable to efficaciously process nan unprecedented number of changes triggered by nan strategy shutdown,” he wrote successful a statement to customers. “Our teams person been moving astir nan timepiece to retrieve and reconstruct afloat functionality.”

While galore airlines ample and mini had nan CrowdStrike problem impact computers that were expected to cheque successful passengers, it appeared that Delta mightiness person been nan 1 hose that had its important unit scheduling package affected.

The problems pinch nan formation groundings and delays produced nightmares for travelers passim nan weekend. And they were only 1 portion of nan “largest IT outage successful history” that was caused by nan CrowdStrike, which unopen down an estimated 8.5 cardinal computers moving Windows package worldwide, disrupting infirmary operations, package deliveries, banking and unit transactions.

CrowdStrike said precocious Sunday that “a important number” of those affected computers “are backmost online and operational.” But successful nan lawsuit of affected airlines, it is not conscionable computers that request to beryllium fixed. It tin return longer to get crews needed to alert planes successful nan correct cities to again unit flights.

The problems astatine Delta are akin to nan problems that occurred astatine Southwest Airlines complete nan end-of-year vacation recreation play successful 2022 erstwhile it had to cancel astir 17,000 flights complete nan people of much than a week. In that lawsuit nan problem was attributed to its unit scheduling system, which Southwest unions criticized arsenic “antiquated” and which Southwest executives vowed to hole successful nan aftermath of nan work meltdown.