Travelers wait in line on the check-in floor of the Delta Air Lines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on July 23, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Delta Air Lines is still reeling in the aftermath of the CrowdStrike outage with 24 flights cancelled and 27 flights delayed at LAX today and 434 cancelled Delta flights nationwide today. Mario Tama/Getty Images
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian announced that the recent IT outage, caused by a faulty CrowdStrike software update, has resulted in a financial loss of $500 million for the airline. The incident led to the cancellation of over 4,000 flights and left thousands of passengers stranded.
A few days after the IT outage, Delta was still canceling flights. VCPost reported that at the time, the loss was reported to be $163 million, which now ballooned to half a billion.
Delta Airline to Seek Damages, Following CrowdStrike Outage
During an interview on CNBC, Bastian stated that the airline intends to seek damages for the disruptions, citing that they have no choice considering the severity of the situation. Delta Air Lines has not specified the exact amount it is seeking as compensation for the outage, but will likely cover the $500 million loss.
To make matters worse, the CEO also mentioned that Delta's response and recovery were slower than other airlines, prompting an investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
This incident marks a rare operational failure for Delta, which has built a reputation as a premium carrier with strong rankings in profitability and punctuality among U.S. airlines.
In return, the company hopes to address the fallout with swift action, maintain its high standards, and protect its brand image.
As the airline works to recover from this setback, Delta and Microsoft's focus will likely remain on improving its technological infrastructure to prevent similar incidents in the future.
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