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Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian has announced that cancellations and delays due to a major IT outage will continue through Thursday, affecting tens of thousands of passengers.

What’s the deal: Delta Air Lines has been grappling with a massive IT outage caused by security software CrowdStrike, disrupting operations since last Friday. This outage has led to thousands of flight cancellations and delays. Today, the company confirmed that 300 flights were delayed.

Statement from CEO: In a statement, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said, “While our initial efforts to stabilize the operations were difficult and frustratingly slow and complex, we have made good progress this week and the worst impacts of the CrowdStrike-caused outage are clearly behind us.” According to Bastian, Delta should have no issues beginning Thursday.

DOT Investigating: Following significant cancellations and delays, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced that the Department of Transportation (DOT) would investigate Delta. In a statement, Secretary Buttigieg said he “received reports of continued disruptions and unacceptable customer service conditions at Delta Air Lines, including hundreds of complaints filed with USDOT.” He added, “I have made clear to Delta that we will hold them to all applicable passenger protections.”

What was the CrowdStrike issue?: On July 19, 2024, CrowdStrike released an update for its Falcon platform that unintentionally created errors for many who use Microsoft products. The disruption affected multiple sectors and businesses, including hospitals and Delta, causing significant operational shutdowns. CrowdStrike eventually deployed a fix and instructed affected users to resolve the issue by deleting a specific corrupted file.