Delta Air Lines cancels 150 flights

Delta Air Lines cancelled 150 flights yesterday after grounding its US flights due to an automation issue, the company said in a statement. The company expected more cancellations.

Delta said in a statement around 11:45 pm ET that the IT systems of the carrier "returned to normal" after the ground stop was lifted. Thousands of travelers were stranded due to the cancellations and across the country.

''I want to apologize to all of our customers who have been impacted by this frustrating situation,'' Delta CEO Ed Bastian said. ''This type of disruption is not acceptable to the Delta family who prides itself on reliability and customer service."

The statement added that the latest total of cancellations were not available late last night on Delta systems including delta.com, the Fly Delta App, airport information screens or through its reservations agents. Some customers experienced delays upon landing, especially at Delta's hub airports.

The grounding was reported earlier yesterday in a statement by the Federal Aviation Administration's Air Traffic Control System Center. International flights had been exempted.

According to reports on social media yesterday airports in Atlanta, New York City, Houston, Tucson, Austin, and other US cities experienced flight disruptions.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Delta Air Lines Inc said it had resumed limited operations after a systems outage grounded its domestic US flights on last evening.

"Delta flights are departing and a ground stop has been lifted as IT systems begin to return to normal after a systems outage," the company announced on Twitter at about midnight EST Sunday, some four hours after the problem took hold.

According to Delta it had canceled around 150 flights scheduled for departure last night or in the early hours today, with more expected, and advised travelers that "not all delays/cancellations are being reflected on Delta systems."

Earlier in August a computer glitch had led to hundreds of delayed or cancelled flights over two days (See: Delta Air still struggles to cope with systems crash on day 2 ).