Flight tracking experts have warned that Delta Air Lines could be ‘inches away’ from a full-blown operational meltdown that could leave tens of thousands of passengers stranded, as Air Traffic Control staffing shortages are compounded by the first winter weather of the season to bring freezing cold conditions to its hub at Atlanta Hartsfield.
On Sunday, Delta topped the podium for the most cancellations of any US airline with 586 or 16% of its schedule axed, and a further 1,304 flights delayed, according to flight tracking service Flight Aware.
While Delta is predicting a quick recovery from the weekend’s mass travel disruption, some experts fear that the airline could be at a tipping point, and the threat of a full-blown meltdown shouldn’t be ignored.
The ‘Flighty’ flight tracking app warned on X that Delta has a “50/50 chance of full meltdown” on Monday, and that a meltdown of the entire national airspace system now stood at around 15%.
The key to Delta’s recovery would be ensuring that pilots and flight attendants are where they need to be on Monday morning, ensuring that the crucial ‘first wave’ of the week’s flight schedule get away on time.
Delta has already proactively canceled up to 10% of its planned flights through Tuesday, November 11, as part of a directive from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aimed at reducing pressure on the Air Traffic Control service.
Those proactive cancellations could, however, just be the tip of the iceberg, and Delta has warned that “compounding constraints” from ATC staffing shortages could lead to short-notice cancellations and delays.
Since Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced his “safety-driven, data-driven decision” to slash flights across the United States in an attempt to reduce pressure on Air Traffic Control, the directive appears to be leading to even more ATC controllers not showing up for work.
Duffy has warned that if the federal government isn’t opened soon, proactive flight cancellations could be pushed to as much as 20%.
Long-lauded as America’s ‘On-Time Machine,’ Delta’s reputation for operational reliability was dealt a damaging blow last July when, like many airlines, some of its key IT systems were taken offline for several hours during the Crowdstrike outage.
Unlike other airlines, however, Delta struggled to get its operation back up and running when it lost track of where its pilots and flight attendants were.
During the five days of disruption following the outage, Delta ended up canceling 7,000 flights at a cost of $500 million.
In an email sent to passengers over the last few days, Delta has warned that it won’t reimburse hotel stays, rental cars, or meal expenses stemming from flight cancellations or significant delays connected to the FAA directive.
Who are these “experts” and expert in what?
Clickbaiting?
Exactly, smells like bullsh^t