Delta woes cancel Lihue flights

LIHUE — Two flights bound for Lihue Airport and one bound to Los Angeles may have been canceled as a result of a power outage that affected the airline’s systemwide operations Monday morning, according to officials with Delta Air Lines.

“Delays and cancellations (Wednesday) are largely still due to the loss of power Monday,” said Elizabeth Wolf, a Delta Air Lines spokeswoman.

A 4:45 p.m. flight from LAX to Lihue Airport on Monday, a 9:01 p.m. flight on Tuesday from Lihue to LAX, and a 4:45 p.m. Wednesday flight from LAX to Lihue Airport were canceled after Delta experienced a loss of power on Monday, according to FlightStats.com. Nine Delta flights in Hawaii were reported canceled by FlightStats on Monday: one on Kauai, seven on Oahu and one on Maui.

The airlines said it planned to resume normal operations by Wednesday afternoon but by 2 p.m. had yet to do so.

Delta canceled 317 flights on Wednesday. Of the 3,100 flights that departed Tuesday, about two-thirds left within 30 minutes of their schedule departure time, according to Delta’s website.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers have been stranded overnight throughout the ordeal, many spending the night in airports around the globe. Others were put up in hotels by Delta, including 2,300 in Atlanta alone Tuesday night.

About 800 flights were scrapped on Tuesday and 1,000 were canceled on Monday. Hundreds of other flights were delayed Wednesday.

Gil West, Delta chief operating officer, said in a statement a critical piece of equipment failed at the airline’s headquarters, which caused a loss of power and key systems. He added that equipment did not switch over to backups as designed.

“Delta’s flight schedule does continue to improve. Canceled flights have declined as the airline moves closer to returning to normal operations,” Wolf said.

The airline is offering vouchers and waivers to customers affected by Monday’s incident.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.