The CrowdStrike outage that took down broadcasters and grounded flights around the globe largely spared private jet travelers, but private jet travelers will likely feel some impact later today and over the weekend.
By late morning, FlightAware reported 32,488 delayed and three,732 canceled flights, over 150% more cancellations than yesterday for the complete day.
A spokesperson for Wheels Up, the fourth-largest charter and part-time operator within the United States, whose largest shareholder is Delta Air Lines, said: “Our operations are not affected by the issue,” adding: “We are working closely with Delta to assist them with any inquiries from their affected customers.”
CRAWLEY, ENGLAND – JULY 19: Passengers queue at Gatwick Airport as a worldwide IT outage occurs on July 19. … [+]
FlightAware shows 652 cancellations and 913 delayed flights from Delta.
Other private jet flight operators reported that there had been no delays or cancellations as of midday.
“Flexjet’s flights scheduled for today will operate without interruption and we have accommodated our owners who requested last-minute flights due to the outage,” said a spokesman for the second-largest private jet operator within the United States.
Jim Segrave, CEO of FlyExclusive, says the charter and fractional operator, the fifth-largest within the U.S., has hired additional staff before and has done well to this point.
HondaJet operator Volato has not yet felt the results, says its CEO Matt Liotta.
Fly Alliance President Christopher Tasca, also one in every of the The 20 largest charter and fractional operators within the USA, it is alleged that its flights are continuing without delays to this point.
“So far, our morning flights have not been affected. We are, of course, getting calls from people whose commercial flights have been canceled,” says Anthony Tivnan, president of Boston-based jet card and charter broker Magellan Jets.
Andrew VanderPloeg, founding father of charter broker Intrepid Jets, says he’s getting calls from customers telling him that airlines wouldn’t have time to rebook until tomorrow or Sunday.
“They have to decide whether they need to go there and whether they are willing to pay the additional costs,” he says.
However, VanderPloeg warns that personal air traffic might be affected.
A charter flight was almost cancelled this morning when a flight attendant was late as a consequence of a flight delay.
Others within the industry expect the issues for personal jet users to arise later within the day and over the weekend.
Craig Ross, CEO of consulting firm Aviation Portfolio, says private jet fleet operators who use airlines to fly their crews from their homes to the private jets they’ll fly are facing scheduling issues.
However, the Flexjet spokesperson says: “Although our pilots use airlines to reach their Flexjet aircraft at the beginning of their deployment, this disruption has had no impact on our operations. Unlike our competitors, we have implemented a policy that sets the first day of a pilot’s service as the designated travel day for the flight from their home city to their first departure city.”
She says Flexjet’s internal systems weren’t affected.
Ross says planes waiting for spare parts to reach may remain grounded just a little longer.
UPS and FedEx have warned their customers expect delays.
Parts required for maintenance are sometimes shipped as freight with airlines or via express parcel services.
This could impact aircraft undergoing repairs today or over the weekend.
An industry executive says the impact on flight crew might be felt not only by airlines, but additionally by hotels and automotive rental corporations. Delays in check-in and check-out, and in picking up and returning rental cars, may impact crew rest periods.
Ross said Aviation Portfolio, which oversees management corporations for personal jet owners and provides quality control of travel for fractional share clients, had only noticed “isolated impacts but no systemic problems” from the technical outage.
However, he recommends checking together with your airline, noting that changes to itineraries or passenger lists made last night or earlier could also be affected.
