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Flights scheduled for departure were not taking off, but those
already in the air were operating normally, Delta said in a
statement.
Delta operates 5,000 departures a day and is a member of the
SkyTeam alliance alongside airlines including Air France-KLM <AIRF.PA>.
It also partners for transatlantic flights with Virgin Atlantic
[VA.UL], which said its flights were operating normally but
cautioned that passengers should check tickets in case their
flight was due to be operated by Delta as part of a code share
agreement.
"Delta experienced a computer outage that has impacted flights
scheduled for this morning," said Delta, the world's second
largest airline measured by revenue passenger kilometers flown.
"Our systems are down everywhere. Hopefully it won't be much
longer," the airline said on Twitter.
The outage was affecting flights globally, a London-based
spokeswoman for the airline said.
Passengers stuck in check-in queues in airports across the
world, or on board planes waiting to depart took to Twitter to
share photos and frustration at the delays.
"1 hr.+ lines @HeathrowAirport for @Delta due to system outage,"
tweeted user @MITJAKE with a picture of passengers waiting to
check in.
The glitch follows several high-profile computer problems faced
by U.S. airlines in recent months.
Budget carrier Southwest Airlines Co. last month had to halt
departures after a technical outage, while American Airlines had
to suspend flights from three of its hubs last September after
technical problems.
Industry consultants say airlines face an increasing risk from
computer disruptions as they automate more of their operations,
distribute boarding passes on smartphones and outfit their
planes with Wifi.
(Reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru and Victoria
Bryan in Berlin; additional reporting by Sarah Young in London;
editing by Gopakumar Warrier and Jason Neely)
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