U.S. airline Delta has cancelled at least 300 more flights after a power cut on Monday that resulted in the cancellation of 1,000 flights and delays for about 2,800 more.
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The Delta computer meltdown was at least the third occasion in little more than a year when airline computer malfunctions have caused flights to be canceled.
Delta initially announced it was cancelling about 300 flights Tuesday morning, in statement released at 8:30 a.m. EST.
By early afternoon in Atlanta on Tuesday, Delta said it had cancelled about 530 flights as it moved planes and crews to “reset” its operation, while more than 1,000 are believed to have been subject to delay.
Airport monitors incorrectly listed flights as on time. The totals were nearly exactly the same for flights headed to LaGuardia, according to FlightAware.
“The passenger service system that we’re now using is original to Delta”, she said.
Tuesday’s disruptions followed about 1,000 cancelations and 2,800 delayed flights on Monday.
The Transportation Department said it also made sure Delta provided information about customer refunds on its website and was reviewing the consumer complaints that it had received.
Delta sent reservations personnel from the corporate headquarters in Atlanta to help customer service agents process passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport., the airline’s main hub. Delta Air Lines delayed or canceled hundreds of flights Monday after its computer systems crash. Thus, further delays and cancellations have been caused by scheduling difficulties.
Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter said that after the power outage, key systems and network equipment did not switch over to back-ups.
For example we’re seeing slowness in a system that airport customer service agents use to process check-ins, conduct boarding and dispatch aircraft.
“We were able to bring our systems back on line and resume flights within a few hours yesterday but we are still operating in recovery mode”, said Dave Holtz, senior vice president – Operations and Customer Center.
“We are sorry for what many of our customers have experienced over the past 24 hours, including those who remain at airports and continue waiting on their flights”, he said. “We are doing everything we can to return our operation to normal reliability, but we do expect additional delays and cancellations”.
Last month, Southwest Airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights over four days after an outage that it blamed on a faulty network router. Arriving flights were not affected.
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Confusion among passengers Monday was compounded as Delta’s flight-status updates crashed as well.
