A brief ground stop impacting all American Airlines flights within the United States was lifted this morning, Bloomberg reports, citing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The ground stop was initiated due to a technical issue that disrupted the airline’s operations on one of the busiest travel days of the year, Christmas Eve.
American Airlines confirmed the issue, stating in a post on X that they were experiencing technical difficulties that affected all of their flights. The airline did not provide specific details about the nature of the problem.
The FAA has estimated that some 30,000 flights are scheduled to take place in the US across all carriers on December 24.
While the airline has not officially confirmed the source of the problem, online reports suggested that a software outage had prevented the airline from calculating the weight and balance requirements for its flights, a critical safety component for any departure. American Airlines acknowledged they are working to fix the issue but did not provide an estimated timeframe for resolution.
The disruption caused initial turbulence in the market, with American Airlines shares dropping as much as 5.5% in premarket trading. However, the stock recovered quickly, trading flat at 8 a.m. in New York.
