Comair Blames Software Meltdown for Flight Delays

After troubles with its 32-year-old crew-scheduling software spawned huge holiday flight delays, Delta Airlines' subsidiary Comair resumed its usual flight schedule in the middle of this week. But Comair is now under the glare of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

Comair's problems began on Christmas Day, when the failure of a legacy software program from SBS International—now a subsidiary of Boeing—was apparently to blame for bringing a Comair computer server to a total halt.

Comair returned to 75 percent of its normal flight schedule on Tuesday of this week, and to 100 percent on Wednesday and Thursday.

But U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta on Monday asked the DOT's inspector general to join an investigation into holiday flight delays impacting customers of both Comair and U.S. Airways over the holidays.

Read the full article: Comair Software Meltdown.

Copyright © 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in ExtremeTech.