Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new information
Christmas Eve travel is off to a rocky start.
American Airlines encountered a technical problem Tuesday morning, and requested the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily ground its flights, nationwide.
Around 8:00 a.m. EST, the agency announced the ground stop had been lifted — but the disruption is likely to cause cascading flight delays throughout the day Tuesday — a day when millions more travelers are expected to head to airports across the country.
Reports of the problems began to circulate widely, shortly after 7:00 a.m. Tuesday.
In a statement to TPG earlier Tuesday, the Fort Worth-based carrier cited a “technical issue” affecting its flights, and said its teams were “working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible,” and apologized for the inconvenience to customers.
Tuesday’s flight troubles come in the midst of what’s expected to be a record-setting year-end travel rush. According to data from the Transportation Security Administration, at least 2.8 million travelers filled airports on Friday, Dec. 20 and Sunday, Dec. 22. More than 2.7 million passengers hit airports on Saturday.
Generally speaking, air travel ran smoothly over the weekend — but Christmas Eve is already shaping up to be a trying day at airports.
American has more than 3,300 domestic departures planned for Tuesday, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium — along with over 500 departing or inbound international flights. Its busiest airports Tuesday are, unsurprisingly, some of its biggest hubs, most notably Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), and Miami International Airport (MIA).
“A technical issue briefly affected American Airlines flights this morning. The system is back up, but we expect residual delays,” Charlotte’s official airport account wrote Tuesday in a social media post.
This is a developing story. Check back for frequent updates.
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