PARIS – Delta CEO Ed Bastian arrived in Paris Wednesday morning for the opening of the Olympics as his airline struggled to recover from a five-day meltdown that left an estimated half-million customers stranded by thousands of flight cancellations.

After a global tech outage that started Friday forced Delta to cancel nearly 8,000 flights on over the past several days, the company said it expects minimal cancellations on Wednesday and “normal” service on Thursday. But it could still be days before all of Delta’s passengers whose flights were canceled will be able to make it to their destinations, given the busy summer travel season and the lack of available seats on many flights. The company has also been unable to reunite many customers with their luggage.

Meanwhile, Bastian traveled to Paris for the Olympics, accordingly, where Delta is a sponsor of the US Olympic Team. “Ed delayed this long-planned business trip until he was confident the airline was firmly on the path to recovery,” said a statement from Delta to CNN “As of Wednesday morning, Delta’s operations were returning to normal. Ed remains fully engaged with senior operations leaders.” (CNN)…[+]