Summary

  • Delta CEO Ed Bastian criticized for attending Paris Olympics amid airline meltdown, thousands stranded.
  • Airline faces tech meltdown fallout, cancels 8,000 flights, expect longer delays in normalizing operations.
  • Delta CEO flies commercial to Olympics as airline staff work overtime to clear passenger backlog.

Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian has been criticized for jetting off to the opening of the Paris Olympics, amid the airline still struggling to recover from the five-day meltdown following the global tech outage. In the last week, there have been thousands of flight cancellations, and an estimated half a million travelers have been stranded.

The Skyteam member was forced to cancel close to 8,000 flights in the last few days. While it expected minimal cancellations from Wednesday onwards, it could still be several days until all disrupted passengers arrive at their intended destinations. With the busy summer season in full swing, the airline knows that capacity will be stretched, and baggage could be delayed. In a statement reported by APNews, Bastian has reiterated that while efforts to stabilize operations have been slow, the outage is clearly behind the airline:

“While our initial efforts to stabilize the operations were difficult and frustratingly slow and complex, we have made good progress this week and the worst impacts of the CrowdStrike-caused outage are clearly behind us.”

Delta Air Lines A350-900 on ground

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Bastian is traveling to the Olympics due to Delta being a sponsor for the US Olympic Team, and a statement from the carrier noted:

“Ed delayed this long-planned business trip until he was confident the airline was firmly on the path to recovery. As of Wednesday morning, Delta’s operations were returning to normal. Ed remains fully engaged with senior operations leaders.”

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Flying commercial

It has been confirmed that Bastian flew publically to Paris, not on a private jet, and that most CEOs of Olympic sponsors attend the Paris Olympics. The airline flies many athletes, coaches, and other support staff to Paris. The Union representing Delta flight attendants slams the CEO for taking a seat to Paris amid an airline meltdown.

Delta has been requesting current employees to work extra shifts to help address the airline’s passenger backlog. IT staff have been working ‘around the clock’ to fix the tech meltdown following last week’s faulty update from CrowdStrike. Paris remains a major international destination for the airline, and it expects thousands of Americans to travel to France to watch the games.

However, it’s also worth recognizing that many customers might prefer to avoid Paris until the event concludes, and they won’t book hotels in the city, which means there will be less demand for flights to Paris, affecting the airline’s profit margins during the period of the Olympiad.

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Why The Olympics Are Bad News For Airlines’ Profit Margins

Delta and its joint venture partner, Air France, were expected to operate 1,654 flights between the US and France for the games.

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