Delta Among Airlines Questioned In Senators’ Letter
The Delta Air Lines computer breakdown from last week that resulted in thousands of canceled and delayed flights hasn’t faded from memory just yet.
Democratic Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut have written Delta and a dozen other airlines asking about possible IT issues.
The senators want to know whether the carriers need overall upgrades in technology and maintenance.
“Now that four air carriers control approximately 85 percent of domestic capacity, all it takes is one airline to experience an outage and thousands of passengers could be stranded,” the senators said in the letter.
Some say the words from the senators probably won’t have much of an effect.
“Delta is going to make sure that this does not happen again. Not because of any letter it receives, but because it’s very bad for business,” said Seth Kaplan, with Airline Weekly. “Especially for an airline like Delta that has built its reputation for being reliable.”
Airline analyst Robert Mann said, “Airlines do not roll the dice on whether or not they should upgrade IT. I think what they occasionally find out is that their best-laid plans don’t always execute as intended, and that’s what happened with Delta.”
Delta told WABE in a written statement that is reviewing the letter from the senators.
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