American Airlines grounds all flights on Christmas Eve; resumes operations after an hour

PTC Web Desk: American Airlines, the world’s largest airline operator, resumed operations in the United States on Christmas Eve after a brief ground stop caused by an unspecified technical glitch. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted the ground stop, allowing American Airlines to restart its flights after the disruption, which lasted over an hour.

The outage affected thousands of passengers during one of the busiest travel periods of the year, as air travel peaks around Christmas. American Airlines apologised for the inconvenience, stating, "Our teams are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible." The airline also responded to passenger complaints on X, a social media platform, acknowledging the disruption.

At airports across the US, announcements were made informing passengers of the ongoing issues. A video posted from an airport showed an airline representative informing passengers that they would receive updates every 15 minutes and that the airline was unable to board passengers or assign crew due to the system failure. "We are working on it," the announcement stated.

The problem began on the morning of Christmas Eve, which was expected to set a travel record, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). Many passengers took to social media to express their frustration, especially as flights were grounded or canceled hours before their scheduled departures.

The FAA issued a note stating that the airline had requested the grounding of all flights. Following the disruption, American Airlines' shares dropped by 3.8%, according to Reuters. While the airline did not make a formal statement on its social media channels, it responded to customer complaints across X, Facebook, and Bluesky.

This incident follows a global IT outage that occurred almost six months ago, which similarly disrupted operations for airlines, banks, and businesses worldwide.