American Airlines resumes Christmas Eve flights after technical problem

American Airlines resumed flights after suspending service for about an hour Tuesday due to a technical issue that affected the systems needed to free its planes.

The nationwide shutdown was canceled shortly before 1:00 p.m. GMT, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The disruption occurred during one of the busiest days of the year, as passengers made trips on Christmas Eve.

In a statement, the airline said a “supplier technology issue” had caused the problem and it was “all hands on deck” to minimize further disruption.

“We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this morning,” the airline said.

“It’s all hands on deck as our team is working diligently to get customers where they need to go as quickly as possible.”

Departure boards at major US airports still show delays of up to two hours for some flights as the airline recovers from the national issue, but real-time tracking website Flightradar24 shows planes taking off again in several from major US travel hubs and on most flights. They leave on time.

Passengers reported on social media that they were stuck on the tarmac or at boarding gates as flights were affected by the disruption for about an hour.

Some passengers were also asked to disembark their planes.

In a video posted on X by a CBS reporter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a gate agent announced that he was about to begin boarding a flight to Philadelphia.

“The system is coming back little by little,” the agent announced from a door.

In July, American Airlines, among other large operators, Grounded flights in the US due to communication problems caused by a global IT failure.

That failure, which also affected banks and emergency services, was due to a faulty software update from cybersecurity company Crowdstrike.