American Airlines Overcomes Technical Setback, Resumes Operations

Following an hour-long disruption, American Airlines has successfully resumed operations amidst heightened travel, with recovery still underway at major airports.

American Airlines has restored its flight services after briefly suspending operations on Tuesday due to a technical failure that hindered the systems necessary for releasing planes for takeoff. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that the nationwide flight halt was lifted just before 13:00 GMT.

The timing was particularly troubling for passengers, as this incident occurred on one of the busiest travel days of the year—Christmas Eve. In an official statement, the airline attributed the issue to a “vendor technology problem,” pledging that it was “all hands on deck” to address the disruption.

“We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this morning,” the airline stated, expressing their commitment to assist affected travelers. As operations resumed, departure boards at key U.S. airports reflected ongoing delays that could extend up to two hours for certain flights. However, real-time monitoring through Flightradar24 indicated that aircraft were again taking off from various major U.S. travel hubs, with most flights returning to their on-time schedules.

Social media platforms saw numerous reports from passengers who experienced difficulties, including those waiting on the tarmac or stuck at gates, as a result of the hour-long outage. Some travelers were even asked to leave their planes during this time. A CBS reporter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, captured a moment when a gate agent announced that a flight to Philadelphia was about to start boarding, stating that “the system is slowly coming back.”

Back in July, American Airlines, along with other major airlines, had previously grounded flights across the U.S. after a communications glitch linked to a global IT crash, which stemmed from a faulty software update by cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike.