Delta Air Lines canceled more than 600 flights Monday as the fallout from a global tech outage extended into a fourth day.
The Atlanta-based carrier had already scuttled hundreds of flights after a software update on Friday knocked out computer systems worldwide, sparking widespread disruptions at airports, hospitals and an array of other businesses. On Sunday alone, Delta recorded more than 1,300 cancellations and some 1,600 delays, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware.
The technical problem was traced to an update issued for systems that run on Microsoft Windows by the security firm CrowdStrike, the company said in a blog post. Its software is widely used around the world by businesses seeking to defend themselves from hackers. The problems Friday affected only computers on the Windows operating system, CrowdStrike said, leaving Apple computers and those using Linux unaffected.
In a Sunday blog post, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the outage had affected an important tool related to crew tracking, and it was unable to effectively process the “unprecedented” number of changes triggered by the system shutdown.
“Our teams have been working around the clock to recover and restore full functionality,” Bastian wrote.
Delta in particular has been the subject of hundreds of complaints filed with the Department of Transportation over “continued disruptions and unacceptable customer service conditions,” according to a social media post Sunday from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
“I have made clear to Delta that we will hold them to all applicable passenger protections,” Buttigieg said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.