Powerful Storm Forces Delta Air Lines To Pull Over 100 Aircraft For Inspection

A powerful storm forced Delta Air Lines to inspect over 100 aircraft. Severe thunderstorms caused chaos across the Southeast on Friday, disrupting the operations at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), which is one of the busiest airports in the United States and also Delta's main hub, where around 900 of the company's flights flow each day.

The thunderstorms developed over the evening, bringing rain, lightning, hail and hazardous wind to the Atlanta area. It also caused an evacuation and temporary power loss at the ATL air traffic control tower. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had also issued a flash flood warning on Friday.

Also Read | Employee's Leave Application To Head To Mountains Wins Internet, Boss Says, "Made My Week"

"Air traffic controllers have returned to the Atlanta control tower after the FAA evacuated most personnel due to strong winds. A few controllers remained in the facility to handle inbound aircraft," the FAA statement said.

The operations were disturbed the next day as well. "The weather impacts have resulted in more than 380 system cancelations for Saturday," a Delta spokesperson said as quoted by the NY Post.

The airline said that the inspections were completed by Saturday morning, but apologised to the customers, further noting that it expects additional delays and cancellations as teams work to safely reset aircraft and reposition flight crews.

Also Read | Thief Dressed In Scooby-Doo Costume Loots Shop In Alabama

Erik Snell, Chief Customer Experience Officer, said, "On behalf of Delta's 100,000 people who are working to restore our operation to its hallmark reliability, I am sorry for the inconvenience and uncertainty this event has caused."

As quoted by Aviation a2z, spokesperson Erica Hutlas said, "Delta people are working as safely and quickly as possible to recover flights."