While more than 191,000 Comair customers had their Christmas holiday flights canceled, the government has determined that the regional carrier of Delta Air Lines [DAL] was itself a victim of the weather and an overloaded computer.

The Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently completed an audit of Comair's holiday cancellations as well as US Airways' [UAIRQ] holiday travel problems.

The audit determined that the snowstorm that hit Cincinnati on Dec. 22 was worse than had been forecast. Furthermore, neither Comair or SBS International were aware that the 18-year-old computer program used to track and schedule flight crews had a pre-programmed cap on monthly flight transactions that caused the computer to shut down. Because of the computer meltdown, Comair scraped its Dec. 25 schedule. It then took two more days to reposition the aircraft and crews before a full schedule was resumed on Dec. 28 (RAN, Jan. 3).

In a statement issued by Comair at the time of the audit release, the carrier apologized for inconveniencing its customers and noted it has taken steps to prevent a repeat of the computer meltdown. In mid-January, long-time Comair President Randy Rademacher suddenly resigned to pursue unspecified opportunities. Delta shifted Fred Buttrell from his post in charge of all Delta Connection operations to the Comair presidency.

While the audit cleared Comair and SBS of any blame, two industry consultants with expertise in crisis management did not let the carrier and software firm off the hook.

"Anyone in the airline business has to have business interruption plans. Those plans need to be tested in real live situations," said Jonathan Bernstein of California-based Bernstein Crisis Management. "I have to believe they never ran a full-scale simulation on the programs or they would not have suddenly discovered there is a [trip] limit. That is what simulations are designed to do.

"In my experience, the failure to test is a budgetary decision. It is a very common thing made at the CEO level. The IT department would have been asking for it."

While it is understandable that the airline would not know of the 32,000 trip limitation, SBS should have known and told Comair, said Marvin Karlins, a management professor at University of South Florida. "It is strange that the airline was not informed that there would be a maximum limit. It sounds like the airline is not culpable, but there is malfeasance on the part of the manufacturer."

Seven Days In December

During the seven-day period in December, 89 percent of Comair's 7,900 scheduled flights were canceled or delayed. The Dec. 22 ice storm triggered three days worth of cancellations or delays involving 91 percent of the 3,400 scheduled flights. When the storm ended on Dec. 23, Cincinnati was sealed with five inches of compacted ice and four inches of snow. Not only did the weather hamper the airport operations, but many of the flight crews based in the area could not reach the airport.

While Comair did not run out of deicing fluids as it was first reported, it took 40 minutes and 1,200 gallons to clean each RJ on Dec. 22 and Dec. 23. It normally takes six minutes and 80 gallons of glycol to treat an RJ.

During the storm period, Comair made more than 6,000 changes to the flight crew scheduling software in an on-going effort to get planes back in the air. On Dec. 24, after flying 39 percent of its schedule, the SBS Track computer shut down at 10 p.m. "According to senior Comair management and SBS representatives, neither was aware that the system had a fixed limit that, if exceeded, would cause the system to fail. SBS Track shut down when it reached 32,000 trip transactions for the month."

In most months, Comair averages 25,800 transactions as the software tracks its 1,800 pilots and 1,000 flight attendants.

When the system crashed, Comair reverted to a manual backup system. According to the audit, Comair senior management quickly determined that the manual system could only support a small number of flights. "As a result, Comair decided that a 'clean slate' was the best opportunity to safely and quickly resume operations and minimize passenger inconvenience. Comair canceled all 1,100 flights on Dec. 25," according to the audit.

After making a backup of the SBS Track data, Comair rolled the computer back to Dec. 21 - before the storm - and then added back information on only those flights that were flown.

While the computer was again functioning, it took Comair until Dec. 28 to resume a full schedule because crews and aircraft were out of place. In the four days from Dec. 25 to Dec. 28, Comair canceled or delayed 3,900 of its 4,500 scheduled flights.

The Interim Plan

Last June, Comair installed a new program to replace SBS Track. However, the Sabre AirCrews system will not be fully operational until this summer. While the software was installed at the time Track crashed, the staff needed to be trained on the new software and the data needs to be transferred.

Until the summer activation date of AirCrews, Comair has devised a interim solution to the 32,000 cap. A duplicate Track system has been established. One system will track the pilots and the second will track the flight attendants.

SBS told the DOT inspector general that seven other airlines still use the same version of Track that Comair uses. The only U.S. carrier using SBS Track is Horizon Air.

>>Contacts: Jonathan Bernstein, Bernstein Crisis Management, (626) 305-9277; Marvin Karlins, University of South Florida, (813) 684-5394.<<

Costly Delays

The DOT audit of the Comair service interruption during which the flights for 191,000 customers were canceled and another 78,000 had their flights delayed tried to quantify the impact on the passengers. Customer Service efforts:

• 50,000 customers reached through automated systems
• 48,000 reached at home
• 60,000 learned of problems at airports
• Added 18 more phone lines to Comair Customer Care Center
• 13,000 contacted Delta Customer Care Center
• Provided 1,800 hotel rooms
• Assisted 900 stranded at Cincinnati airport
• Accompanied 23 unaccompanied minors
• Did not track number of inconvenienced disabled passengers
• 11,000 mishandled bags
• 79,000 refunds issued
• Awarded 1 billion SkyMiles
• Distributed vouchers ranging from $150 to $350
• 1,200 complaints lodged with DOT

Source: DOT Inspector General Audit