American Airlines has resumed flight operations after halting services for approximately an hour on Tuesday due to a technical glitch affecting systems necessary for releasing planes. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that services were restored just before 13:00 GMT. This incident occurred on one of the peak travel days leading up to Christmas Eve when many passengers were on the move.
In an official statement, American Airlines identified a "vendor technology issue" as the source of the disruption, and the airline stated it was an "all hands on deck" situation to minimize further issues. "We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this morning," the airline expressed, assuring that their team was diligently working to expedite travel for those affected.
While the majority of flights are now departing on schedule, the airline is still facing delays of up to two hours at major US airports as the situation stabilizes. Real-time flight tracking on Flightradar24 indicates that numerous aircraft are taking off successfully from key travel hubs.
Passengers took to social media to share their experiences of being stuck on the tarmac or at airport gates due to the outage. In some cases, travelers were asked to leave their airplanes. A video shared on X by a CBS reporter in Fort Lauderdale captured a gate agent announcing the resumption of boarding for a flight to Philadelphia, stating, "The system is slowly coming back."
This recent incident recalls a previous occurrence in July when American Airlines, among other carriers, grounded flights across the U.S. due to communication issues stemming from a global IT crash linked to a faulty software update from a cybersecurity firm.
