Delta Air Lines’ Chief Executive, Ed Bastian has come out and personally apologised to thousands of customers whose travel plans were disrupted by a global power outage this week.
On Monday, the airline was forced to cancel around 800 flights on its global network when its system shut down. Everything from check-in, website, flight boards to apps were affected by the failure.
According to Bastian, the airline is yet to determine the cause of the outage but said the company is now back online and attempting to recover its operations.
However, some 300 extra flights were cancelled today and Bastian anticipates a few more disruptions tomorrow as the airline works hard to “get its product back to standard”.
In a Facebook update, Bastian personally apologised to affected travellers, saying “this isn’t who we are”.
He stressed that the number of cancellations the airline had on Monday was three times more than the cancellations during the first eight months of this year.
“This isn’t who we are. This isn’t the reliability of service you’ve come to expect from Delta Air Lines.”
Ed Bastian, Delta Air Lines Chief Executive
He went on to say the company (and he personally) were “very sorry for what happened and the impact it has had on travel plans”.
Bastian explained that while the airline had spend hundreds of millions of dollars on ensuring a backup system was in place, the core systems didn’t kick in to the backup, which led the mass outage.
“We are back up and running although operations are running a little slower than what we like,” he said.
“We’re re-positioning crews and getting airport staff support the help and rest they need to keep operations moving.
“We’ll have some cancellations today and probably some tomorrow before we’re fully reset.
“But we’re doing everything possible to get this product back to your standard.”
Watch his update below:
As expected, passengers have responded to the outage with mixed emotions, with some praising the airline for their support, while others expressing their disappointment.