Monday, January 30, 2017

Delta operations ‘back to normal’ after Jan. 29 IT failure

Delta Air Lines experienced its second systems outage in six months Jan. 29, triggering a ground stop and cancellation of approximately 280 flights, with additional cancellations possible for Jan. 30, the Atlanta-based airline said.

In a 7 a.m. EST statement Jan. 30, Delta said “[the airline] is operating the vast majority of its flight schedule today as the airline recovers from a systems outage that caused departure delays and about 170 cancellations Sunday.”

Delta’s essential IT systems went down at about 6:30 p.m. EST Jan. 29, causing an immediate ripple effect of departure delays and cancellations throughout Delta’s operations. The airline said some flights experienced delays upon landing, particularly at Delta’s hub airports.

A Delta spokesperson declined to comment on the cause of the outage.

Confusion was reported among passengers as many effects of the outage, i.e. delays and cancellations, were not reflected on Delta systems, including delta.com, the Fly Delta App, airport information screens or through the airline’s reservations agents.

The computer system was restored late in the evening and a ground stop was lifted, allowing flights to resume. Delta said “all systems were back to normal shortly after midnight Monday.”

Delta CEO Ed Bastian issued an apology at 4 a.m. EST Jan. 30, saying “This type of disruption is not acceptable to the Delta family, which prides itself on reliability and customer service.”

The airline is waiving change fees for customers affected by the outage for re-booking through Feb. 3.

Delta last experienced a system outage in August 2016, a three-day event that resulted in approximately 1,925 flight cancellations. Delta later reported the outage cost the airline $100 million in lost revenue.

In July 2016, Southwest Airlines had a systemwide IT outage that resulted in over 2,000 flight cancellations and delays. 


(Mark Nensel - ATWOnline News)

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