Delta Airlines Faces Recovery Challenges Amid Tech Outage as CEO Attends Olympics

Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian arrived in Paris on Wednesday for the opening of the Olympics, as the airline grapples with the aftermath of a significant operational disruption. A global tech outage that began last Friday resulted in nearly 8,000 flight cancellations, stranding an estimated half-million customers. While Delta anticipates a return to “normal” service by Thursday, many passengers may still face delays in reaching their destinations due to the busy summer travel season and limited seat availability. Bastian's trip to Paris, where Delta sponsors the US Olympic Team, was delayed until he felt confident in the airline's recovery efforts. Delta stated that operations were stabilizing as of Wednesday morning, with Bastian remaining actively engaged with senior operations leaders. Notably, he traveled on a commercial Delta flight rather than a private jet, emphasizing the airline's commitment to transparency during this challenging period. The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), which represents Delta's flight attendants, expressed minimal concern regarding Bastian's trip, citing regular communication with Delta's front-line operations executives. The airline has been urging employees to take on additional duties to address the ongoing issues, while its IT staff works tirelessly to resolve the tech problems caused by a corrupted software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. Despite the widespread disruptions affecting multiple airlines, Delta's challenges have been particularly severe, primarily due to issues with its crew tracking software, complicating the identification of necessary personnel for flight operations.