Delta cancellations, delays from IT outage should end by Thursday: CEO

Delta Air Lines cancellations and delays resulting from a massive IT outage will continue through Thursday, CEO Ed Bastian said Wednesday.

Thousands of Delta flights have been cancelled or delayed since last Friday, when a global computer outage caused by security software CrowdStrike brought much of the airline industry to a halt.

“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,” Bastian said in a statement Wednesday.

The Department of Transportation announced Tuesday that it will open an investigation into the airline for the slow recovery and reports of lacking customer service.

Delta is the only airline that has had cancellations and delays continue past the weekend, with over 300 flights delayed Wednesday, according to tracking service FlightAware.

Delta anticipates “minimal” flight cancellations Wednesday and for Thursday “to be a normal day, with the airline fully recovered and operating at a traditional level of reliability,” Bastian said.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday that the department had “received reports of continued disruptions and unacceptable customer service conditions at Delta Air Lines, including hundreds of complaints filed with USDOT.”

“I have made clear to Delta that we will hold them to all applicable passenger protections,” he continued.

Bastian apologized to customers in a statement Sunday, saying the airline was hit especially hard by the tech outage because it relies on CrowdStrike-affected computer systems for its crew management software.

“Cancellations continue on Sunday as Delta’s teams work to recover our systems and restore our operation. Canceling a flight is always a last resort, and something we don’t take lightly,” he wrote.