Pilot sues Delta for US$1bil claiming the airline stole crew app

Delta Air Lines faces a billion dollar lawsuit by its own pilot, who claims the company stole his text-messaging app for flight crews that addresses disrupted flights. – AP Photo

Delta Air Lines Inc. was sued for more than US$1bil (RM4.2bil) by one of its own pilots, who claims he developed a text-messaging app for flight crews that the airline stole and used as the basis for its own app.

Captain Craig Alexander sued Atlanta-based Delta for trade-secrets theft in Georgia state court on Monday. He claims he spent $100,000 (RM420,000) of his own money to develop his QrewLive app, which he pitched to the airline as a way to address crew communication snafus after disrupted flights. Delta turned him down but went on to launch its own identical tool, he claims.