ATLANTA — Following a massive worldwide systems outage on Friday that was linked to a defect in a CrowdStrike security update on Microsoft systems, air travel is expected to be impacted into the weekend.
That means a major headache for the world's busiest airport here in Atlanta.
On Friday afternoon, Delta provided another update, saying that more than 1,200 Delta mainline and Delta Connection flights had been canceled due to the outage so far.
"We’re sorry for this inconvenience – canceling a flight is always our last resort and isn’t taken lightly," Delta said in the update. "Delta takes seriously the trust placed in us to deliver the reliability and experiences customers have come to know and expect from us."
The airline said it's currently taking the following steps:
- Issuing travel waivers
- Reaching out to customers about cancellations and re-booking
- Covering meals and accommodations
Meanwhile, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport noted Friday that its own systems weren't impacted, those of airlines were -- causing, as of Friday afternoon, more delays and cancelations in Atlanta than anywhere else in the United States, according to figures from FlightAware.
As of 3 p.m., FlightAware showed Atlanta with 782 delays and 593 cancelations, either into or out of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Of those, 296 cancelations were flights that were supposed to leave from Atlanta.
Much of the reason for that is Delta's dominant presence in Atlanta. The airline was substantially impacted by the system outages before resuming some flights around 8 a.m. on Friday.
According to the FlightAware data, Delta had 455 cancelations either into or out of Atlanta as of Friday afternoon. And a little after noon, the company told 11Alive that the Fly Delta App was having some "intermittent performance disruptions as we manage high volumes of traffic" with people trying to book new flights.
Georgia Tech professor and aviation expert Laurie Garrow told 11Alive's Bobeth Yates in an interview that containing the ripple effects by getting schedules back up and running earlier in the morning was an important step.
But as the delays and cancelations have stacked up, so too have implications for the weekend.
"I think we're going to see a lot of disruption today, we're seeing major carriers already offering waivers on tickets... if there's re-accommodation or canceled flights we'll see that ripple into the weekend as well," Garrow said.
How serious the ripple effects may be is, of course, not yet clear. But Garrow urged travelers to try to take the situation in stride as best they can.
"Be patient -- as a traveler I know it's difficult and very frustrating going to the airport, and Friday tends to be a big travel day now for leisure customers going out," she said. "So just bring your patience, get to the airport early, always be prepared to read a book or do something fun. You might be waiting at the gate for a while."
How to stay informed on Atlanta flight delays and cancelations
- Check Hartsfield-Jackson's cancelations and delays here
- Find direct Delta updates here or here
- Find Atlanta airport communications here