American Airlines resumes flights on Christmas Eve after technical problem

American Airlines has resumed flights after suspending service for about an hour on Tuesday due to a technical problem that affected the systems needed to clear the planes.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the nationwide shutdown was lifted just before 1pm GMT.

The breakdown happened on one of the busiest days of the year, with commuters traveling on Christmas Eve.

In a statement, the airline said the cause of the problem was a “problem with the supplier’s technology” and that “everyone is working” to minimize further disruption.

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

“Everything is in place because our team is working hard to get customers where they need to be as quickly as possible.”

Departure boards at major US airports still show delays for some flights of up to two hours as the airline recovers from the nationwide outage, but real-time tracking website Flightradar24 shows planes are taking off again in a number of major US tourist hubs and most flights are departing on time.

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

Some passengers were also ordered to get off the planes.

In a video posted on X by a CBS reporter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a gate agent announced the start of boarding for a flight to Philadelphia.

“System is slowly coming back,” the agent announced from the gate.

In July, American Airlines, among other major carriers, ground flights within the US due to connectivity issues caused by a global IT outage.

The outage, which also affected banks and emergency services, was caused by a faulty software update by cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike.