Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), members of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, issued a joint statement today after some investigations into recent outages.

“This report confirms what countless passengers across the country already know, technical glitches and other airline issues are the leading cause of flight delays in the United States. If we are going to meet our nation's 21st century transportation needs, we need to upgrade the 20th century information technology systems that are the heart of airlines' problems. Now that four airlines control 85 percent of domestic capacity, it is more important than ever that airlines take all necessary steps to modernize their technology systems and prevent such delays from occurring.”

It certainly is the explanation for the major Delta outage earlier this month. Let's hope Congress can actually pass some measures to bring the country's air travel network up to cruising altitude.