After a short disruption that halted all American Airlines flights during one of the year's busiest travel times, the airline announced it has resumed operations on Tuesday morning.
Airline spokeswoman Sarah Jantz told CNN, that American Airlines said a “vendor technology issue” was responsible for delaying all of its flights in the United States. But the company began boarding flights again at around 8 a.m. ET and flights have since resumed.
The Federal Aviation Administration lifted its nationwide ground stop order for all American flights. According to a statement by the FAA, American requested a nationwide ground stop but referred all questions to the airline for more information.
According to the aviation analytics firm Cirium, the outage occurred on a day when the airline is scheduled to have more than 3,300 domestic flights.
The airline reumed operations with some delays but without a significant number of cancellations.
“It’s all hands on deck as our team is working diligently to get customers where they need to go as quickly as possible,” the airline said. “We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”
American said delayed customers should be on their way with minimal disruption.
“Expect some delays throughout the day but [we’re] working to mitigate those and avoid cancels,” Jantz said. “We have a smaller schedule today and have the staffing to support the quick recovery.”
According to data tracker FlightAware, a total of 26 flights from various airlines were canceled across the country. Additionally, over 1,000 flights entering, within, and leaving the United States experienced delays. This increase in delays occurred soon after the American outage, but airport congestion and winter weather in the Northeast might also be contributing factors.
David Myers, a 62-year-old disaster consultant journeying from Salisbury, Maryland, to New Orleans with a stopover in Charlotte, said that he first became aware of the issue at 6 a.m. on Tuesday. He and his wife are attempting to celebrate Christmas with their children.
“It’s Christmas Eve, so complaining doesn’t seem quite right,” Myers told CNN. “And safety always comes first. But more information at the gate would be helpful.”
Customers on social media began complaining early Tuesday morning that some flights were returning to their gates and that delays were about 90 minutes.
According to sources, American Airlines (AAL) stock initially fell nearly 3% in premarket trading but rose 1% following the resolution.
If you enjoy What's going on in the Lehigh Valley, please consider donating.
WGOLV is an independent news publication in the Lehigh Valley - mom-owned and run
Thank you!