More than 1,500 U.S. flights have been canceled for the third consecutive day as airlines struggle to recover from a global tech outage that stranded thousands of passengers at airports.
By Sunday evening, around 1,600 flights into, within, or out of the United States had been canceled, and over 8,500 U.S. flights were delayed. Delta Air Lines accounted for over 1,000 of these cancellations.
Delta Air Lines is continuing its recovery efforts following an “outside vendor technology issue” that caused delays and cancellations. The airline is directly communicating with affected customers, offering travel vouchers, waivers, and SkyMiles Program miles.
In an update to Delta customers on Sunday afternoon, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said the airline’s teams are still working to restore their systems and operations. “Canceling a flight is always a last resort, and something we don’t take lightly,” Bastian stated.
On Saturday, 2,136 flights across multiple carriers were canceled, and more than 21,300 flights were delayed, according to FlightAware.
The tech issue extended beyond airports, disrupting businesses, government agencies, health and emergency services, banks, schools, and universities globally. This disruption was caused by a flawed software update for Microsoft Windows operating systems issued by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, affecting an estimated 8.5 million Windows devices, according to Microsoft.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz apologized to customers and said a fix has been deployed, but experts indicate that restoring systems will be a lengthy process.
Major airlines have reported that services are being restored, but additional delays and disruptions are possible. United Airlines stated that most of its systems have recovered from Friday’s outage, though some delays and cancellations are still expected. More than 400 United flights were canceled on Saturday, and over 200 on Sunday, according to FlightAware.com.
Delta has paused unaccompanied minor travel until Wednesday due to the outage. Unaccompanied children already booked on Delta flights will not be able to travel, and the airline has asked that no new bookings be made for them until then.
