Summary CrowdStrike caused a major IT outage impacting airlines like Delta, resulting in 7,000 flight cancellations.
American Airlines and United Airlines were also affected but had faster recovery times compared to Delta.
Southwest, JetBlue, and FedEx Express avoided disruptions by running older Windows systems.
On July 19, 2024, a software update gone wrong by security vendor CrowdStrike led to what could be seen as the largest IT outage in history, impacting millions of Windows systems across the globe.
The aviation industry was not spared, as it relies on this software as well. In fact, this IT outage exposed the centralized nature of modern air travel. As a result, numerous airlines and airports across the United States were significantly affected.
The IT outage was caused by a flawed software update from CrowdStrike. Although the company relatively quickly identified the problem and rolled back the changes, the damage had already been done. The faulty update impacted Windows 10 and newer versions, but Mac and Linux systems remained unaffected.
Thousands of flight cancelations and financial implications
The CrowdStrike-Microsoft IT outage has affected the United States’ three biggest airlines: American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines. This has resulted in thousands of canceled and delayed flights.
Indeed, North America has been disproportionately affected by the issue compared to other regions. According to Cirium data, the North American continent saw a total of 23,393 flight cancelations in June 2024. Most of these flight cancelations occurred due to the IT outage.
Region Total cancelations in June 2024 Total cancelations in July 2024 Change Middle East & Africa 2,000 1,849 -7.5% Asia-Pacific 26,951 26,990 0.14% Latin America 4,235 3,222 -23.9% North America 11,806 23,393 98.1% Europe 8,145 10,976 34.7%
The Delta case
Notably, Delta Air Lines was hit the hardest among the three major US airlines. The disruption continued even when other carriers appeared to have recovered. According to a report by BBC, approximately 7,000 Delta flights were canceled over the course of five days, from July 19 to July 24, 2024.
Photo: KITTIKUN YOKSAP | Shutterstock
The Atlanta-based airline blamed Microsoft and CrowdStrike for the disruptions, claiming it incurred a loss of $500 million from lost revenue from thousands of canceled flights, passenger compensation, and other costs.
Meanwhile, the IT company denied being solely responsible for Delta’s disruptions, noting that other airlines were able to recover operations more quickly. Delta’s chief executive officer, Ed Bastian, wrote in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that the meltdown affected 1.3 million of Delta’s customers.
Looking Back: How The CrowdStrike IT Outage Affected US Airlines & Airports
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