US senators quiz airlines on IT systems after Delta disruption

Two US senators Tuesday sent letters to 13 major airlines expressing concerns that their information technology systems are vulnerable to outages that can strand thousands of passengers similar to recent flight cancellations. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Edward Markey sent letters after Southwest Airlines Co and Delta Air Lines Inc experienced technology issues that resulted in thousands of flight cancellations across the country. They want details on "specific safeguards and backups" to prevent airline IT systems from failing. Delta was forced to ground about 2,000 flights last week after a small fire resulted in a "massive failure" at the airline's technology centre. Reuters reported last week further outages are likely because major carriers have not invested enough to overhaul reservations systems based on technology dating to the 1960s. “We are concerned with recent reports indicating that airlines’ IT systems may be susceptible to faltering because of the way they are designed and have been maintained,” the Democratic senators wrote. "Now that four air carriers control approximately 85% of domestic capacity, all it takes is one airline to experience an outage and thousands of passengers could be stranded." The senators also want airlines to answer if they will rebook passengers on a rival carrier or compensate passengers in the event of delays or cancellations caused by an IT outage. They also want answers about airlines' cybersecurity efforts.<br/>