By Rajesh Kumar Singh and David Shepardson
(Reuters) – Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said on Monday it will take several more days for the U.S. airline to recover from a global cyber disruption that has paralyzed flights around the world.
The Atlanta-based airline has been hit hard by the outage. More than 4,000 flights have been canceled since Friday, leaving thousands of customers stranded across the country. By contrast, disruptions at other major U.S. airlines had largely disappeared.
As of Monday, Delta had canceled more than 800 flights, or about 21% of its scheduled total as of 3:30 p.m. EST, according to FlightAware data. It accounted for about half of the total flight cancellations.
A software update by global cybersecurity company CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:) caused system problems for Microsoft (NASDAQ:) customers on Friday, including many airlines.
In a video message to employees, Bastian and Chief Information Officer Rahul Samant provided an update on the situation on Monday.
Bastian said the company is working around the clock to get operations back on track, but it will take a few more days for the worst to pass.
“Today will be a better day than yesterday and hopefully Tuesday and Wednesday will be so much better again,” he said.
The company’s shares closed about 3.5% lower at $43.83.
About 60% of the most critical applications Delta uses are based on Microsoft Windows and were disabled early Friday after CrowdStrike’s faulty Windows update, the airline said.
Delta’s IT teams had to manually repair and restart each of the affected systems, requiring additional time for applications to sync and communicate with each other.
But the crew tracker application – which ensures all flights have a full crew in the right place at the right time – requires the most time and manual support to sync, Delta said.
“Everything except that critical system is operational,” Samant said. “And we are working feverishly on that.”
CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS
Delta is widely respected for its reliable operations. Analysts say the on-time performance in arrivals and departures has helped the airline strengthen its position as a premium airline.
The problem has infuriated customers. Many complained of having to wait hours for help as airline helplines were overwhelmed. Some were forced to rent a car to travel hundreds of miles, while others said they would have to wait days for new flights.
“I was very disappointed with the way Delta handled this,” wrote Bob Pearlman on LinkedIn, who had booked a flight from Honolulu to Salt Lake City.
Bastian said the outage hit the airline during “the busiest travel weekend of the summer”, limiting reaccommodation options.
The company said its crews are fully staffed and ready to serve our customers.
In a memo seen by Reuters, Delta said it is “doing everything possible” to bring stability to its workforce. It has increased pay for pilots and flight attendants.
“The most important thing you can do to help at this time is to pick up trips on any basis,” the memo said, a request for crews to volunteer for additional trips.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday that his office had received hundreds of complaints about Delta’s customer service and asked the airline to provide prompt refunds, free rebookings and timely refunds to customers.
