American Airlines has resumed its flights after a brief suspension of services on Tuesday due to a technical issue affecting critical systems for plane departures. The nationwide disruption, which lasted approximately an hour, was lifted shortly before 13:00 GMT, as confirmed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The incident occurred during one of the peak travel days of the year, with many passengers journeying for Christmas Eve. The airline attributed the problem to a “vendor technology issue” and mobilized all available resources to mitigate further delays.
“We sincerely apologise to our customers for the inconvenience this morning,” American Airlines stated. “It’s all hands on deck as our team is working diligently to get customers where they need to go as quickly as possible.”
Despite flights resuming, major U.S. airports reported delays of up to two hours for some departures as operations normalized. However, real-time flight tracking website Flightradar24 indicated that planes were taking off again at key travel hubs, and most flights were departing on schedule.
Passengers shared their experiences on social media, describing delays while waiting on the tarmac or at gates. In some cases, travelers were instructed to disembark from their planes due to the outage.
A CBS reporter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, posted a video on X, showing a gate agent announcing the resumption of boarding for a flight to Philadelphia. “The system is slowly coming back,” the agent said.
This technical hiccup comes months after a similar disruption in July when American Airlines and other major carriers were forced to ground flights across the U.S. due to communication failures stemming from a global IT crash. That earlier issue, which also impacted banks and emergency services, was traced back to a faulty software update from the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
While Tuesday’s incident was less severe, it underscores the vulnerabilities of modern airline operations to technological failures, particularly during high-demand travel periods. The airline industry continues to grapple with ensuring robust and reliable systems to minimize disruptions for travelers.
