Delta CEO says CrowdStrike-Microsoft outage cost the airline $500 million

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said the massive IT outage earlier this month that stranded thousands of customers will cost it $500 million.

The airline canceled more than 4,000 flights in the wake of the outage, caused by a botched CrowdStrike software update and taking thousands of Microsoft systems around the world offline.

Other airlines recovered faster, and Delta's cascading disruptions and customer response sparked an investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Bastian, speaking from Paris, where he traveled last week, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday that the carrier would seek damages from the disruptions, adding, "We have no choice."

The flight disruptions was a rare meltdown for the carrier that markets itself as a premium airline with top rankings in profitability and punctuality among U.S. carriers.

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