Last Friday, a bug in the CrowdStrike security software of the American cybersecurity company caused the collapse of Microsoft's Windows system, resulting in the largest ever digital system crash worldwide. Multiple industries, including aviation and banking, have been significantly affected, with Delta Air Lines being particularly hard hit.
According to reports, Delta Air Lines is currently under investigation by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) due to its handling of a technical malfunction that resulted in thousands of flight cancellations.
According to tracking service company FlightAware.com, as of Tuesday evening, the airline has cancelled 478 daily flights, accounting for 13% of normal flights. The total number of cancelled flights since last Friday's malfunction exceeded 5400.
According to US regulations, for flight cancellations caused by issues within the control of an airline, the airline is required to provide vouchers for remedial measures such as catering, booking tickets and hotels with another airline. If passengers refuse alternative flights offered after a flight delay, they also have the right to a full cash refund, but they must make a request.
Delta Air Lines passengers have expressed dissatisfaction on social media platforms, complaining about cancelled and rescheduled flights, lost luggage, and not receiving food and hotel vouchers.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg posted on X that the Department of Transportation has launched an investigation to "ensure that airlines comply with the law and take care of passengers during the ongoing widespread disruption. He told reporters in a subsequent briefing that the flight interruption resulted in 3000 passengers filing complaints with federal authorities.
This undoubtedly adds insult to injury to Delta Air Lines, which is already struggling with IT failures. The company only announced a day ago that it expects to cancel more flights this week. Delta Air Lines stated that the company is working "day and night" to resume operations, and stated that over half of its global IT systems rely on Microsoft's Windows operating system, which has been affected by software failures.
According to statistics, Delta Air Lines has the worst performance among all airlines in the United States. Despite being affected by unprecedented downtime, most other airlines returned to normal over the weekend.
Delta Air Lines stated in an email statement that the company is fully cooperating with the investigation and will be fully focused on resuming operations. It is understood that over half of the company's IT systems worldwide rely on Microsoft's Windows operating system, which has been affected by software failures.
John Laugher, the operations director of Delta Air Lines, said in a report to employees on Tuesday that the airline's employees are working hard to get the planes and crew "to where they should be so that we can resume normal operations this weekend