Delays persist at Sky Harbor following American Airlines’ nationwide ground stop

On By Littum

PHOENIX – A “technical issue” briefly disrupted American Airlines flights nationwide early Tuesday, the airline said, at the start of a busy Christmas Evening for travelers around the country.

The Federal Aviation Administration said American requested a ground stop for all its flights. An hour later, American said planes began boarding again and the FAA lifted the nationwide ground stop.

“A supplier technology issue briefly affected flights this morning,” American said in a statement sent to ABC News. “This issue has been resolved and flights have resumed.”

“We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this morning,” the statement added. “It’s all hands on deck as our team works hard to get customers where they need to go as quickly as possible.”

The airline flagged “a technical issue with all American Airlines flights,” in a post to X early Tuesday.

The post added: “Your safety is our highest priority, once this is fixed we will have you safely on your way to your destination.” In response to questions from other social media users, the airline said it was unable to estimate how long the resolution would take.

The airline wrote that it did not yet have a “time frame” but that “they are trying to fix it in the shortest possible time.”

In a statement sent to ABC News, the airline added: “Our team is working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”

The ground stop still affects flights at Phoenix Sky Harbor. 40 flights have been delayed at the airport in the past 24 hours, and according to the airport’s website the vast majority of delays affect US flights.

The disturbance will be unwelcome to one record number of Americans expected to travel through this holiday season. The Transportation Security Administration said it expects to screen nearly 40 million travelers from Dec. 19 to Jan. 2 — a 6.2% increase from 2023.

American Airlines said it expected Dec. 27 and Dec. 20 to be its busiest and second-busiest days, respectively, during the holiday period that began Dec. 18.