Flights resume after ground stop issued for all American Airlines flights nationwide

As travelers rushed to airports across the country on Christmas Eve, American Airlines experienced a ground stop for all flights due to a “technical issue.”

Update 10:02 a.m. ET, Dec. 24: KPRC received a statement from American Airlines which said that the issue was due to “vendor technology” and that the glitch was resolved.

The issue, which caused the hour-long ground stop, “impacted systems needed to release flights.”

Update 8 a.m. ET, Dec. 24: Passengers are reporting that boarding has started once again in Chicago, Fort Lauderdale and other airports.

The FAA confirmed that the ground stop was canceled.

Original report:

The company did not disclose what the technical issue was or an estimated time frame needed to fix the issue.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the ground stop was requested by American Airlines.

Christmas Eve is expected to be one of the busiest travel days this year. The FAA said about 30,000 flights were scheduled across all airlines, Bloomberg reported.

About 40 million people are expected to fly from Dec. 19 through Jan. 2, ABC News reported. American said Dec. 27 will be its busiest day with Dec. 20 being the second busiest this season.

To check the status of your flight, visit your airline’s website, or follow along on FlightAware.

American Airlines sent Channel 9 the following statement:

"A vendor technology issue briefly affected flights this morning. 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."

Officials said the technology issue impacted systems needed to release flights. The ground stop lasted about one hour.

We’re monitoring delays at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and will keep you updated on Eyewitness News.

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