American Airlines resumed its operations on Tuesday after a brief interruption caused by a "technical issue" that grounded all its flights in the United States before Christmas Eve.
According to the company's spokesperson, Sarah Jantz, in a statement to CNN, boarding for flights resumed around 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time (1:00 p.m. GMT).
The airline explained that the disruption was due to a technological failure with one of its suppliers, which led the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to order a nationwide flight suspension at the company's request.
Subsequently, the FAA lifted the order, and flights resumed with some residual delays.
Impact during the holiday season
The issue impacted one of the busiest days of the year for American Airlines, which had over 3,300 domestic flights scheduled, according to data from the aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Despite the setbacks, the airline managed to minimize cancellations, although delays continued throughout the day.
"American Airlines apologized to our customers for the inconvenience caused," stated the airline in a press release.
"We are working hard to ensure that our customers reach their destinations as quickly as possible," they added
The American Airlines pilots' union explained that the issue involved the Flight Operations System (FOS), a key tool that manages essential operations such as boarding.
Although the specific affected system was not confirmed, the airline assured that it has backup tools and trained personnel to mitigate these disruptions.
Many passengers expressed their frustration on social media, noting delays of up to 90 minutes and a lack of information at the boarding gates.
Others have taken it with humor.
"The situation with American Airlines ruining Christmas for tens of thousands of people is nothing new. Let's remember that this is the same airline that in the 90s allowed a minor to travel alone during Christmas to an unknown destination without even checking if their parents were on board," a user humorously commented, referring to the film "Home Alone."
Memes have also been plentiful.
Technological issues in airlines are not uncommon, but their impact is particularly pronounced during peak demand periods.
Last July, a worldwide outage caused chaos in air travel, affecting half a million people and prompting a federal investigation.
In 2022, a severe winter storm caused widespread cancellations during the holiday season, revealing failures in the scheduling systems of Southwest Airlines, which subsequently faced lawsuits and fines.
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