American Airlines resumes Christmas Eve flights after technical problem

American Airlines has resumed flights after suspending its services for about an hour on Tuesday due to a technical problem that affected the systems needed to free its planes.

The nationwide shutdown was lifted shortly before 13:00 GMT, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The disruption occurred during one of the busiest travel days of the year as passengers made journeys on Christmas Eve.

In a statement, the airline said a “supplier technology issue” had caused the problem and that it was “everything on deck” to minimize further disruption.

“We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this morning,” the airline said.

“It’s all hands on deck as our team is working 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 domestic problem, but real-time tracking website Flightradar24 shows planes returning to depart from a number of major US travel hubs and on most flights. they leave on time

Passengers reported on social media being stuck on the tarmac or at gates as flights were affected by the disruption for about an hour.

Some passengers were also told they would be disembarked from their planes.

In a video posted to X by a CBS reporter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a gate agent announced that he was about to board a flight to Philadelphia.

“The system is slowly coming back,” the agent announced from a door.

In July, American Airlines, among other major operators, ground flights across the US due to communication problems caused by a global computer crash.

That failure, which also affected banks and emergency services, was caused by a faulty software update by cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike.