American Airlines lifts nationwide groundstop due to 'technical issue' on Christmas Eve
American Airlines lifted a nationwide groundstop on Tuesday after reporting earlier a widespread "technical issue" affecting all flights as many Americans began traveling for the busy holidays.
The airline said in a statement that the groundstop lasted approximately one hour, and all flight have since resumed.
"A vendor technology issue briefly affected flights this morning," the statement said. "That issue has been resolved and flights have resumed. We sincerely apologize 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."
An Air Traffic Control System Command Center advisory shows that the airline issued a nationwide groundstop on Christmas Eve.
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"We're currently experiencing a technical issue with all American Airlines flights," the airline wrote in an earlier statement on X. "Your safety is our utmost priority, once this is rectified, we'll have you safely on your way to your destination."
"Our team is currently working to get this done," the airline added in a second post as the issue was still ongoing. "An estimated timeframe has not been provided, but they're trying to fix it in the shortest possible time."
The airline did not immediately provide additional information about the issue.
The Federal Aviation Administration similarly offered little information. "American Airlines is reporting a technical issue and has requested a nationwide ground stop. Please contact American Airlines for more information," the agency said in a statement.
As of 7:10 a.m., American Airlines had 1,979 outages reported, according to DownDetector, a website that provides an overview of issues and outages with a variety of services.
Dozens of social media users reported being stuck aboard planes on the tarmac or being sent back to the gate at the airport. The American Airlines X account replied to many of the users, apologizing and assuring them that their team was working to fix the disruption.
Morgan McMahon, a Texas native, told Fox News Digital that he was seated aboard a plane at LaGuardia Airport in New York when the captain made an announcement.
"Was seated on plane. Captain made announcement at first computer was down for balancing the weight. Maybe 5 -10 minutes delay he stated. About 15 mins later made announcement entire AA system was down," McMahon said.
McMahon, who was trying to fly back home to Texas, said that he'd continue to fly with American Airlines despite the disruption to his travel.
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"They can give some kind of monetary credit to my account (to make up for the inconvenience)," McMahon told Fox News Digital. "That wound be good. $100 and I’ll be fine."
This is a breaking news story; check back for updates.
Fox News Digital's Emmett Jones contributed to this report.