EPA
American Airlines has resumed flights after suspending services for about an hour Tuesday due to a technical problem affecting the systems needed to release its planes.
The nationwide shutdown was called off shortly before 1:00 p.m. GMT, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The disruption came during one of the busiest travel days of the year, with passengers traveling on Christmas Eve.
In a statement, the airline said a “supplier technology issue” caused the problem and that “all hands were on deck” to minimize further disruption.
“We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience caused this morning,” the airline said.
“It’s all hands on deck as our team works diligently to get customers where they need to go as quickly as possible.”
Departure boards at major US airports still show delays of up to two hours for some flights as the airline recovers from the nationwide problem, but real-time tracking site Flightradar24 shows planes taking off again at a number of major US travel hubs and on most flights. leave on time.
Passengers reported on social media that they were stuck on the tarmac or at the boarding gates while flights were affected by the outage for about an hour.
Some passengers were also asked to get off their plane.
Watch: Moment American Airlines passengers are asked to get off the plane
In a video posted to X by a CBS reporter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a gate agent announced that a flight to Philadelphia was about to begin boarding.
“The system is coming back little by little,” the agent announces from a portal.
In July, American Airlines, among other major operators, suspended flights across the United States due to communications problems caused by a global computer crash.
The outage, which also affected banks and emergency services, was caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike.
