For another day, chaos continues for Augusta’s main air carrier

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Delta Air Lines, Augusta Regional Airport’s main carrier, struggled for a fourth straight day to recover from a worldwide technology outage caused by a faulty software update, stranding tens of thousands of engers and drawing unwanted attention from the federal government.

Other carriers were returning Monday to nearly normal levels of service disruptions, intensifying the glare on Delta’s relatively weaker response to the outage that hit airlines, hospitals and businesses around the world when cybersecurity company CrowdStrike deployed a faulty update.

After Friday’s tech meltdown, Delta cancellations and delays continued at the Augusta airport.

Although no Delta delays or cancellations were listed in the airport’s arrivals and departures on Monday, the vast majority of fliers out of Augusta catch connecting flights at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Delta’s home base and main hub as well as the world’s busiest airport.

Many even drive to the Atlanta airport to catch their flights.

And the chaos continues there.

Delta has canceled more than 5,500 flights since the outage started early Friday morning, including at least 700 flights canceled on Monday, according to aviation data provider Cirium. Delta and its regional s ed for about two-thirds of all cancellations worldwide on Monday, including nearly all the ones in the United States.

United Airlines has been the next-worst performer since the outage started, canceling nearly 1,500 flights. United canceled only 17 Monday flights by late morning, however.

Other airlines that were caught up in the first round of groundings also returned mostly to normal operations by Monday. That included American, Spirit, Frontier and Allegiant.

Delta says it’s working around the clock to recover and restore full functionality.

In a statement, Delta officials mentioned it’s also offering things like meal vouchers, hotel accommodations and transportation for those impacted.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke to Delta CEO Ed Bastian on Sunday about the airline’s high number of cancellations since Friday. Buttigieg said his agency had received “hundreds of complaints” about Delta.

The widespread technology outage on Friday caused problems for industries across the board.

But one of the most visible ones was the travel industry, with lines of engers stranded at airports after airlines were shut down by the outage that happened when cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike deployed a faulty update.

Flights were halted for hours Friday at Augusta Regional Airport, and got back to normal slowly.

Traveler Nina Pantano said she was taking a quick trip home to see her family but now she won’t make it. Her main problem now? Her luggage.

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“It’s in Detroit, and I’m not there. They said it was supposed to just stay in Charlotte since I was not physically going to Detroit, and I could just pick it up, or they could send it back. But it’s in Detroit,” she said.

Some travelers are no longer relying on planes to get home.

David Wilkins said: “He’s heading to Richmond in a rental car, and he’s turning around and he’s coming back to the airport to pick me up, because we live like 25 minutes apart from each other in Richmond, Virginia.”

American started flying again by around midday Friday, and Delta said it was flying, as well.

But it was slow going.

By late afternoon, Delta showed a number of cancellations and delays at the airport, while American showed several delays.

Wilkins says he is a frequent flier with Delta Airlines.

“I’ve got 1.4 million miles with Delta out of 20 years. Maybe this has happened a handful of times, maybe three or four times,” he said.

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