Delta is the second largest U.S. airline. The airline company operates thousands of flights every day using over 800 airplanes and flying over 180 million passengers a year. But, over the weekend, Delta Airlines suffered technical issues and temporarily grounded all of their domestic flights.
Delta flight cancellations
The airline took to Twitter to announce the flight cancellations. “Delta teams are expeditiously working to fix a systems outage that has resulted in departure delays and cancellations,” Delta said on Twitter. “Flights in the air remain unaffected.”
Delta then tweeted, “Approximately 150 flights have been cancelled tonight with more expected. Not all delays/cancellations are being reflected on Delta systems.”
Then, early this morning Delta tweeted the company canceled several additional flights. “Approximately 80 flights scheduled for today have been canceled with additional cancellations possible.”
Approximately 150 flights have been cancelled tonight with more expected. Not all delays/cancellations are being reflected on Delta systems.
— Delta (@Delta) January 30, 2017
Ultimately, Delta’s domestic flights suffered an over two-hour delay, which grounded over 100 flights. Delta explained that the essential IT systems went down around 6:30 p.m. Sunday. But, the system was restored several hours later shortly after midnight.
“I want to apologize to all of our customers who have been impacted by this frustrating situation,” Delta’s CEO Ed Bastian said. “This type of disruption is not acceptable to the Delta family.”
Delta promises a change fee waiver for all customers affected by the systems outage and flight cancellation. Furthermore, the airline also suggests Delta travelers to check their flight status, if they are traveling today.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the two-hour delay was caused by “automation issues” at Delta, according to Bloomberg.
United Airlines “IT issue”
Last week, United Airlines shut down all domestic flights over a reported “IT issue.” After a two hour delay, United Airlines resumed all flights. Also, earlier this month, Air Canada and Porter Airlines experienced technical issues. As a result, both airlines had to cancel some flights.