Delta Airlines CEO, Ed Bastian, estimates a potential loss of $500,000 in revenue due to a global cybersecurity software outage. The incident disrupted operations worldwide, grounding thousands of flights and causing significant delays in the airline’s services.
Delta Airlines Hit Hard by Cybersecurity Outage
On July 19, a software glitch in CrowdStrike’s cybersecurity platform led to a global outage, crashing Microsoft Windows systems worldwide. The fallout was immediate and widespread, grounding thousands of flights, temporarily closing major ports, and causing disruptions in banks, hospitals, and television networks.
Delta Airlines was among the many airlines affected, but it seemed to bear the brunt of the impact. It took five days for Delta to restore its crew tracking systems, a significantly longer recovery time compared to other airlines, which managed to get their systems back online within hours.
Financial Impact and Criticism of CrowdStrike
Bastian revealed to CNBC on July 31 that the financial losses for Delta were tied to a significant drop in revenue. The airline had to spend tens of millions of dollars per day to rebook and accommodate approximately 500,000 stranded travelers. As a result, Delta had to cancel around 30% of its flights in the five days following the initial system crash.
Bastian also criticized CrowdStrike for releasing the faulty update that caused the outage.
Delta Cargo Reports Revenue Increase Amidst Crisis
Despite the crisis, Delta Cargo, the airline’s air freight division, reported a 16% year-over-year increase in total revenues for the second quarter of 2024. This increase was described as “a significant improvement from prior trends.”
However, these figures do not account for the potential impact of the CrowdStrike crash. Supply chain consulting firm Xeneta had previously warned that the air freight industry could take weeks to fully recover from such a disruption.
