Delta Air Lines chief Ed Bastion says the airline’s post thunderstorm ‘meltdown’ will cost an estimated $125 million.
The carrier was forced to ground more than 3,000 flights and took six days to get back on track following ‘unprecendented’ thunderstorms in the southeast.
The carrier was hardest hit due to it’s reliance on Atlanta hub operations.
More than 60% of all aircraft pass through Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport causing a huge bottleneck to its network system.
It spent days struggling to get the necessary flight crew .in the right places to resume flying.
"These events always provide fertile ground for learning," Bastian said during the carrier’s first-quarter earnings.
‘Thousands of our customers have been inconvenienced and frustrated during this situation, I have personally heard from many of them who feel like Delta let them down," Bastion said in a memo to all employees.
"I want to apologize to all of my Delta colleagues for putting you in this position."
Still, the cost of the storm will only cause a minor dent in the balance sheet.
Pretax profit is expected to be $1.76 billion in the current quarter,
"With an improving revenue profile and further improvement as our cost growth moderates in the second half, we are on track to expand margins for the balance of the year," Delta chief financial officer Paul Jacobson said in a statement.
