Delta passengers can count on "minimal" flight cancellations Wednesday, CEO Ed Bastian says
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said the carrier is making progress restoring operations, noting he expects "minimal" flight cancellations on Wednesday after five days of disruptions caused by the CrowdStrike software outage.
As of 2:10 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, Delta had cancelled 48 flights, or roughly 1% its scheduled daily trips, according to tracking service FlightAware. Roughly 500 Delta flights were delayed.
Those numbers are down sharply from the preceding five days, when a botched technology update last week by CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company whose software is widely used in Microsoft Windows computers, forced Delta to scrap thousands of flights.
Bastian said in an update posted on Delta's website that service should be fully restored as of Thursday. "Thursday is expected to be a normal day, with the airline fully recovered and operating at a traditional level of reliability," he said.
Meantime, Delta said it will reimburse passengers for unplanned travel expenses that include purchasing tickets on other airlines, renting cars, traveling by train and other costs.
Beyond angering frustrated travelers during the busy summer travel season, the chaos has spurred an investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Aviation Consumer Protection over what the agency referred to as "concerning customer service failures."
Bastian acknowledged the airline's slow pace of recovery following the CrowdStrike outage, with other impacted airlines getting back on track more quickly.
"While our initial efforts to stabilize the operations were difficult and frustratingly slow and complex, we have made good progress this week, and the worst impacts of the CrowdStrike-caused outage are clearly behind us," he said in Wednesday's memo.
Delta previously blamed its inability to swiftly restore operations on a crew scheduling tool that ran on Microsoft Windows and that was affected by the software outage. But some aviation industry experts, as well as federal regulators, say that Delta was insufficiently prepared for the business disruption and failed to adequately serve customers in its aftermath.
The unprecedented tech crash, which shut down banks, hospitals, government agencies and other organizations around the world, has already cost large U.S. companies more than $5 billion, according to Parametrix, provider of internet cloud monitoring and insurance services.
Bastian is now in Paris for the start of the 2024 Olympics, which opens on Friday. Delta is the official airline of the U.S. team.
"Ed delayed this long-planned business trip until he was confident the airline was firmly on the path to recovery," Delta said in a statement. "As of Wednesday morning, Delta's operations were returning to normal. Ed remains fully engaged with senior operations leaders."
Bastian's trip to France drew a rebuke from Delta's flight attendants.
"While Ed was flying to Paris last night, crew were sleeping in airports across the country," the Delta Association of Flight Attendants-CWA organizing committee said in a statement. "Flight Attendants expect an apology and accountability. We provided a roadmap to recovery and care for the affected crew members. Instead of taking ownership, Ed took a first class seat."
—CBS News' Kathryn Krupnik contributed to this report.