The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Delta: Repay us for power outage
CEO says airline may have lost up to $50M in revenue during ordeal.
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said he found it “shocking” that it took nearly 12 hours to get the power back on at the Atlanta airport — and he plans to seek compensation for the airline’s lost revenue.
The stern comments from the head of Atlanta’s largest airline signal that the crisis this week has sparked discord between some of the Southeast’s most powerful entities: Delta, Georgia Power, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and the city of Atlanta.
”It was a very difficult experience. And it was shocking, candidly, that it took so long to get the power back on,” he said. “I know they worked hard to deliver, but to be out of power for almost 12 hours is unbelievable.”
During an exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at a Delta 747 farewell event Tuesday evening, Bastian said, “We will certainly be seeking the opportunity to have a conversation, and then seek reimbursement .... I don’t know whose
responsibility it is between the airport and Georgia Power, but we’re going to have conversations with both of them.”
Bastian said the airline may have lost $25 million to $50 million of revenue as a result of the power outage that hit the world’s busiest airport on Sunday. That doesn’t include additional costs incurred by Delta, which canceled 1,400 flights and is reimbursing passengers for Sunday night hotel stays.
”We have a lot of people at the start of the business week that didn’t take their trips” because
of the outage, Bastian said. ‘Asleep at the switch’ passengers frustrated their To lives be sure, of at have the the many impact flight also Delta been can- on cellations, including extra expenses for meals, lost wages and missed events.
Amid criticism of the lim- ited information that trickled out from the city and the airport as the power outage progressed into multi- ple hours on Sunday, Delta’s chief also emphasized the importance of communication.
The airline has suffered through its own debacles leading to thousands of flight cancellations, including in the wake of a thunderstorm earlier this year and after a computer system outage last year.
During an April meltdown of wake the Bastian an Tournament storms, Delta’s event airline of then was at a operation came the thunderstorm, on flew in Masters the Augusta under to day his in of Flor- Golf fire. the the for ida a Delta home residence COO office. Gil West where Meanwhile, handled he has the issued response a statement in Atlanta apologiz- and ing to customers.
”Having been there myself in a crisis, the most import- ant thing is to stay visible, to let people know what you know, even if you don’t have all the answers — and to make certain you take responsibil- ity,” Bastian said.
A spokeswoman for Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s office responded: “We look forward to collaborating with our partners, including Delta Air Lines, to address Sunday’s outage and identify measures to prevent future incidents.” Georgia Power said it has served the Atlanta airport for nearly 100 years, “with regu- lar upgrades and investments in the system to ensure reli- ability, and an incident like this has never occurred.” ”We understand and apol- ogize for the inconvenience the outage caused thousands of travelers. However, we cannot and do not guarantee uninterrupted electric power service. Our main focus is to ensure this never happens again,” Georgia Power said. Delta’s lease with the city-operated airport spec- ifies that the airline “waives and releases City from any and all claims for damage arising or resulting from failures or interruptions of util- ity service furnished by City or others hereunder, including but not limited to elec- tricity...,” according to the lease document. in say from vided ures not fault But, the occasioned that claims or or however lease. there’s interruptions the neglect for city It an damage that continues by is or exception the released such that City’s were “pro- fail- of to its tractors, other control employees, entities or subcontractors for which under agents, City City’s con- or is responsible.” restore ”In any promptly event, City such shall services failure when or interruption the cause of such has been removed,” the lease says. ”It makes it more import- ant than ever to get to the bottom of the cause,” said Simon Bloom, an Atlanta attorney who specializes in construction real estate litigation. “You can think of a range of possible scenarios where one could make the viable case that the city was asleep at the switch, literally and figuratively.” Airline accountability information of what Bastian Delta the backup blackout, said is wants pushing about when systems including the he for talked failed. cause more to after “they Georgia the still power didn’t Power have outage, the day all the ”We answers.” haven’t had the chance yet to sit down and fully understand what everyone could have done better,” he said. Bastian said he plans to meet w ith At l anta Mayor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms on the matter soon after she takes office next month. Hartsfield-Jackson general manager Roosevelt Council issued a lengthy written statement Wednesday afternoon detailing steps the airport took during the outage and apologizing to customers. Council said the airport will “closely review what happened” in the coming days and weeks. In the wake of the power outage, was impact gers, concerned employees on Bastian Delta’s about and said passen- repu- the he tation. on our “Certainly customers the and impact our people and our brand was not good,” Bastian said. Bastian said the airline wasn’t able to tell its customers how long it might take to get the power back on “other than what Georgia Power was telling us — because we didn’t have responsibility for it.” Georgia Power CEO Paul Bowers committed to Delta to have a backup in place for the power system at the Atlanta airport by Friday, he added. ”I told Paul that we need to make certain that we learn from this, that we never experience this either here in Atlanta or any of the other big airports,” Bastian said.