Delta Air Lines plans to file legal claims of at least USD500m against CrowdStrike due to a content configuration update on July 19 that caused a systems crash worldwide, leading to around 7,000 flight cancellations over five days for Delta.
The update by CrowdStrike resulted in a coding error affectingms of Windows computers globally, with Delta estimating a direct revenue impact of USD380m from providing refunds and compensation to customers, along with recovery costs of about USD170m for customer and crew-related expenses.
Other airlines impacted by the outage were Vueling Airlines, Ryanair, Virgin Australia, SpiceJet, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines, and Singapore Airlines. Delta’s heavy reliance on Windows-based systems exacerbated the effects of the outage due to approximately 60pc of its critical applications running on Microsoft platforms.
Following the incident, Delta has criticised CrowdStrike’s response, while a lawsuit has been filed against Delta on behalf of affected customers in the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, alleging the airline’s failure to promptly provide refunds and support services to passengers impacted by flight cancellations and delays.
