Delta Air Lines cancels hundreds more flights as DOT opens probe

Delta has been uniquely affected by the global IT outage compared with other major carriers, who have largely resumed normal operations. In a statement on its website Monday afternoon, Delta estimated that more than half of its IT systems worldwide rely on Microsoft Windows.

Friday’s CrowdStrike error, it said, “required Delta’s IT teams to manually repair and reboot each of the affected systems, with additional time then needed for applications to synchronize and start communicating with each other.”

It continued: “One of Delta’s most critical systems — which ensures all flights have a full crew in the right place at the right time — is deeply complex and is requiring the most time and manual support to synchronize.”

A Delta representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.   

Social media has been filled with images of passengers stranded away from their destinations. An additional complicating factor has been coordinating flyers’ luggage as they seek to rebook, reflected in a significant volume of Delta’s social media team responses on X related to baggage issues.

CEO Ed Bastian and Chief Information Officer Rahul Samant provided an update in a video message to employees Monday.

Bastian said that the company is working around the clock to get its operation back on track but that it will take another couple of days before the worst is over.

“Today will be a better day than yesterday, and hopefully Tuesday and Wednesday will be that much better again,” he said.