The company could not predict when operations would resume
Every single American Airlines flight in the US has been grounded due to a “technical issue,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday. With the glitch striking during the busiest travel period of the year, millions of people could be affected.
In a notice on its website, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that American Airlines – the country’s largest carrier – had requested a ground stop for all of its flights on Tuesday morning.
The company confirmed shortly afterwards that it was “experiencing a technical issue with all American Airlines flights.”
Responding to a post from a customer on X, American Airlines said that it could not provide a timeframe for flights to resume, only that technicians were “trying to fix it in the shortest possible time.”
Video footage shared on X showed passengers being told to wait at crowded gate areas. In one video, an American Airlines employee announced that “our system is down.”
The Christmas and New Year period is a busy one for air travel. According to trade group Airlines for America, roughly 54 million US passengers are expected to take to the sky between December 19 and January 6, a 6% increase over last year.
