The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has rescinded a nationwide groundstop of American Airlines flights across the United States.
Previously, American Airlines had halted all its flights in the country due to an unspecified technical issue, impacting the travel plans of thousands of passengers intending to fly out for Christmas Eve.
The airline did not provide details on the reason for the flight suspension. Many passengers took to social media to report their flights were stuck on the tarmac at various airports and were now being returned to the terminal.
“An estimated timeframe has not been shared, but efforts are being made to resolve the issue as quickly as possible,” the airline mentioned in a post on X, addressing a query from a stranded traveler.
American Airlines operates thousands of flights daily to over 350 destinations in more than 60 countries.
This grounding comes just months after airlines faced a widespread tech outage linked to Microsoft’s Azure cloud services and a software problem at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
The FAA was not immediately reachable for additional comments.
Two years ago, Southwest Airlines suffered a significant system failure during the holiday season, resulting in 16,900 flight cancellations and leaving 2 million passengers stranded. The airline was ultimately fined $140 million, marking the largest-ever civil penalty for a travel disruption.
