Jammed phone lines compounded Delta’s troubles during heavy storms

A series of storms that hit Delta Air Lines’ hub in Atlanta last month forced the cancellation of more than 3,000 flights.

But an internal memo from the carrier suggests that the problems resulting from the storm were compounded by a communication system that couldn’t handle the heavy load of calls that had to be made to reroute flight crews.

“In many cases, our crews weren’t able to reach crew schedule teams, making crew reroutes and accommodations difficult,” according to the memo from Delta Chief Executive Edward Bastian and Chief Operating Officer Gil West to Delta employees.

The storms began April 3 and lasted until April 6, but flight cancellations continued into the next day.

A Delta pilot told CNN that the communications problems meant that crews didn’t know where to go and which flights to staff next during the storm. “And they can’t get through on the phones to find out, or even tell someone where they are,” said the pilot, who asked not to be identified because he’s not authorized to speak publicly.

In the memo, Bastian and West said Delta plans to add more staff and more phone lines to avoid such problems in the future. “We’ve already implemented a number of immediate changes and have identified longer-term fixes,” the memo says.

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