FAA cancels nationwide ground stop for American Airlines | World | News

Chaos ensued this morning with thousands of Christmas Eve flights thrown into doubt as American Airlines was forced to ground all its flights. 

Thousands of passengers hoping to get home for Christmas became stranded due to a technical issue.

“We’re currently experiencing a technical issue with all American Airlines flights,” a statement from the airline read, published earlier today December 24.

“Your safety is our utmost priority, once this is rectified, we’ll have you safely on your way to your destination. 

“Our team is working to get this rectified so that you can be safely on your way to your family. Your continued patience is appreciated.”

In a statement sent to Express.co.uk following the resuming of flights, American Airlines revealed the technology issue impacted systems needed to release flights. The ground stop lasted approximately one hour.

The airline said: “A vendor technology issue briefly affected flights this morning. That issue has been resolved and flights have resumed.

“We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this morning.

“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 US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said there had been a “nationwide groundstop for American Airlines”, an order which applied to all airports, according to the message.

Numerous passengers were posting on social media that their flights had been stuck on the runway at various airports and were now being sent back to the gate.

Flights are still showing delays as the airline recovers from the nationwide issue, but real-time tracking website Flightradar24 shows planes taking off again at a number of major US travel hubs.

“An estimated timeframe has not been provided, but they’re trying to fix it in the shortest possible time,” the company said in a post on X, responding to a question from a stranded flyer.

American operates thousands of flights per day to more than 350 destinations in more than 60 countries.

The airline is expecting almost 12.7 million passengers on 118,000 flights during the winter holiday period, according to Forbes.

“Customers can find the latest information on their flight using the mobile app and aa.com,” the airline concluded in its statement sent to Express.co.uk.