American Airlines brought all flights to the UK to a standstill today, leaving holidaymakers in limbo on Christmas Eve. Flights were plunged into near chaos by the unforeseen technical issue, with thousands of passengers left wondering if they’ll make it home in time for Christmas.
“We’re currently experiencing a technical issue with all American Airlines flights,” a statement from the airline read, according to the Mirror. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also confirmed a ‘nationwide groundstop for American Airlines’.
The order halted all flights departing from the US, impacting routes to British airports and applies universally as conveyed by the authority. The airline manages an expansive schedule, with thousands of flights operating daily toward over 350 destinations across more than 60 nations.
A spokesperson for the company told the Mirror: “A vendor technology issue briefly affected flights this morning. That issue has been resolved and flights have resumed. We sincerely apologise 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.”
Travellers faced disruption as flights remained idle on runways or returned to gates across various airports on one of the year’s peak travel days. One frustrated passenger wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Captain says @AmericanAir software outage preventing weight & balance calculations ‘company-wide’ with no estimate on resolution. Flights unable to depart as a result. Not a good start to Christmas Eve travel!”
Also caught in the disruption was David Myers, a 62-year-old disaster consultant from Salisbury, Maryland, whose journey to spend the festive period with his children in New Orleans was derailed. Myers first got wind of the setback at 6am local time.
“It’s Christmas Eve, so complaining doesn’t seem quite right,” Myers told CNN. “And safety always comes first. But more information at the gate would be helpful.” However, shortly before 1pm, the issue was reportedly resolved and flights started up again.