American Airlines planes sit at their gates at Miami International Airport on October 25, 2024 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
American airlines briefly grounded its U.S. flights Tuesday morning due to a technical issue, hampering travel during what carriers expect to be a period of record holiday demand.
By 7:55 a.m. ET, ground control had been lifted, an American Airlines spokeswoman told CNBC. The ground stop lasted less than an hour, but more than 900 American Airlines mainline flights were delayed, according to flight tracking site FlightAware. That represented more than 38% of American’s schedule for Tuesday, and more delays than any other U.S. carrier. However, only 11 mainline flights were canceled.
The airline’s regional subsidiary, Envoy, also reported another 200 delayed flights. In addition to the previous 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 using DXC technology, a vendor that manages the flight operating system that allows flights to leave the gate, American said in a statement.
The system is linked to critical data such as an aircraft’s weight and balance, which is necessary before a flight can leave the gate.
“This issue has been resolved and flights have resumed,” the carrier said in a statement. “We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience caused this morning.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said American requested the ground stop.
Airlines routinely require ground stopovers, which hold flights at the point of origin, so that destination airports are not overwhelmed by flights with no place to park in the event of disruptions. In addition to technical problems, ground stops are put in place in the event of storms and other bad weather.
American had a smaller schedule on Christmas Eve compared to other days around the Christmas holiday. The carrier has not had any cancellations related to the issue, a spokeswoman said.
Disparate systems of airlines’ critical technology platforms have recently gained more attention after periods of mass flight cancellations such as Southwestcollapse during the 2022 end-of-year holiday period and Deltathe struggle of Crowd strike breakdown last summer.
Correction: The ground stop was issued Tuesday. An earlier version incorrectly stated the timing.
