American Airlines planes stand next to their gates at Miami International Airport on October 25, 2024 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | fake images
american airlines briefly suspended its flights to the United States on Tuesday morning due to a technical issue, snarling travel during what airlines expect to be a period of record holiday demand.
At 7:55 a.m. ET, the ground stop was lifted, an American Airlines spokeswoman told CNBC. The ground stop lasted less than an hour. More than 1,000 major American Airlines flights had been delayed, according to flight tracking site FlightAware. That represented more than 40% of American's schedule for Tuesday and more delays than any other U.S. airline. More than 90 major flights were canceled or 3% of the schedule was cancelled.
The airline's Envoy regional subsidiary also reported another 260 delayed flights. In addition to the earlier ground stop, American was also dealing with thunderstorms in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where its largest hub is located.
The problem was a network hardware issue involving a platform used by DXC Technology, a vendor that maintains the flight operating system that lets flights go out the gate, American said in a statement.
The system is linked to critical data such as an aircraft's weight and balance, which is required before a flight can go out the gate.
“That issue has been resolved and flights have resumed,” the airline said in a statement. “We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this morning.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said American had requested the ground stop.
Airlines routinely request ground stops, which hold flights at origin, so that destination airports are not overwhelmed by flights with no place to park when there are disruptions. In addition to technical problems, ground stops are made in case of thunderstorms and other adverse weather conditions.
American had shorter hours on Christmas Eve compared to other days of the Christmas holiday. The airline did not have any cancellations related to the issue, a spokeswoman said.
Patchwork systems of critical airline technology platforms have gained more attention lately following periods of mass flight cancellations, such as SouthwestThe crisis during the 2022 year-end Christmas season and DeltaThe fight to recover from Strike crowd blackout last summer.
Correction: The ground suspension was issued on Tuesday. An earlier version misstated the timing.
