Delta Air Lines Fell Short of Its Q3 Goals. Was the CrowdStrike Outage to Blame?

Delta Air Lines has announced its Q3 financial results, and the airline did indeed fall short of its third-quarter projections. The company did succeed in other ways but claimed that the CrowdStrike outage was to blame for its shortfall. Does this claim hold water? Let’s take a look.

Delta Air Lines Q3 Results: Not Bad, But Short of Goals

Airways is reporting that the following was disclosed by Delta Air Lines on its Q3 call, which took place on Thursday, Oct. 10:

• $15.7 billion in operating revenue
• $1.49 billion in operational income and an 8.9% operating margin
• $1.6 billion in pre-tax income with a 10% pre-tax margin
• $1.97 in profits per share in the U.S.
• $1.35 billion in operating cash flow
• $263 million in payments for debt and financing lease obligations
• $17.7 billion in total debt and finance lease liabilities at the end of the quarter

Highlights of the fleet and operations also include:

• Operated the year-to-date most punctual airline.
• Took possession of nine aircraft in the September quarter, with 27 aircraft total so far this year, including the A321neo, A330-900, and A350-900.
• Revealed its summer plan for transatlantic travel for 2025, with over 700 weekly flights to 33 locations, including seven new routes.
• Signed codeshare contracts with Saudia Airlines and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS).
• The first-ever nonstop service between SLC and ICN was announced.
• 5 new routes from Austin (AUS) launching in March 2025.
• 5 new routes, two of which go to Mexico this winter, were announced.

“Thanks to the exceptional work of the entire Delta team, we continue to lead the industry operationally and financially, with a double-digit operating margin and nearly US$3 billion of free cash flow generation year-to-date. In recognition of the outstanding efforts of our employees this year, we have accrued almost $1 billion of profit sharing towards the upcoming February payout,” said Ed Bastian, Delta’s chief executive officer, on the call.

“Through the September quarter, unit revenue growth improved sequentially in all geographic entities, reflecting an improved equilibrium between demand and supply as industry growth moderated,” said Glen Hauenstein, Delta Air Lines’s president, on the call.

Is It CrowdStrike’s Fault?

The airline specifically detailed the financial effects of the CrowdStrike incident this summer, which brought down numerous Delta Air Lines systems.

Microsoft Windows crashed as a result of an outage connected to CrowdStrike’s “Falcon Sensor” program, according to Reuters. Clients saw a blue screen, indicating that their computers were unusable and that their services were down. Thousands of flights were halted as a result of the upgrade, which impacted an estimated 8.5 million Windows devices, many of which were servers operated by Delta Air Lines and other airlines.

Thousands of individuals then attempted to get in touch with their carriers to inquire about flight details and compensation. Numerous clients were left stranded and unable to get their flights changed or refunded.

On July 24, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote on X of the incident, “Passengers have rights. The situation of Delta passengers stranded and unable to contact customer service is unacceptable. We’re opening an investigation into Delta’s handling of over 6,000 canceled flights since Friday.”

Although CrowdStrike denied fault for Delta’s cancellations after a glitch resulted in millions of computers crashing and thousands of flights being canceled, Delta Air Lines announced that it intended to sue Microsoft and CrowdStrike for damages.

According to CNBC, Delta retained lawyer David Boies to file a damages lawsuit against both businesses. According to the outlet, “The outages cost Delta an estimated $350 million to $500 million. Delta is dealing with over 176,000 refund or reimbursement requests after almost 7,000 flights were canceled.”