The CEO of Delta Air Lines, Ed Bastian, claims that the system outage last month that crippled businesses around the world cost the carrier $500 million.
Bastian told CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ on July 31, 2024, that Delta Air Lines had “no choice” other than to seek damages in wake of the chaos that ensued.
The half a billion-dollar figure is not only based on lost revenue but also “tens of millions of dollars per day in compensation and hotels” in the following days.
“We have to protect our shareholders. We have to protect our customers, our employees, for the damage, not just to the cost of it, but to the brand, the reputational damage,” Bastian said.
On July 29, 2024, it was reported that Delta hired the services of prominent US lawyer David Boies to seek damages from cyber-security firm CrowdStrike and Microsoft, although it is understood that no lawsuit has been filed yet.
Companies and airlines were left struggling to function on July 19, 2024, after a software update by CrowdStrike caused Microsoft Windows to crash.
Delta appeared to suffer more heavily than any other airline in the United States (US) and was forced to cancel over 5,000 flights as a result of the outage.
According to CNBC, Delta’s systems that designate flight crews to aircraft could not keep up with the changes and caused additional problems for the airline.
Ryanair, Vueling Airlines, IndiGo, Ajet, SpiceJet, Air India Express, Transavia France, Turkish Airlines and Akasa Air confirmed that they were also affected by the outage.