American Airlines Says Delays this Christmas Week caused by Technology Provider

  • Over 900 flights affected Christmas Day
  • Fights resumed a few hours after incident began early Christmas Day
Technical Glitch Causes Brief but Significant Disruption to American Airlines Operations

A technical malfunction forced American Airlines to temporarily ground all U.S. flights on Tuesday morning, causing widespread travel disruptions during the peak holiday season. Though the ground stop lasted less than an hour, ending at 7:55 a.m. ET, its impact was substantial - over 1,000 mainline flights faced delays, representing more than 40% of the day's schedule. Additionally, 90+ flights were canceled.

The root cause was identified as a network hardware issue involving DXC Technology, a vendor managing the airline's flight operating system. This critical system handles essential pre-flight data, including aircraft weight and balance calculations required for departure clearance.

The disruption extended beyond mainline operations, affecting American's regional carrier Envoy, which reported 260 delayed flights. Compounding the technical issues, thunderstorms near the airline's Dallas-Fort Worth hub further complicated operations.

While American operated a reduced schedule for Christmas Eve, this incident highlights ongoing concerns about airlines' aging technology infrastructure. Recent examples of similar large-scale disruptions include Southwest's holiday meltdown in 2022 and Delta's CrowdStrike-related issues this past summer, emphasizing the vulnerability of these critical aviation systems.

American Airlines has since resolved the issue and resumed normal operations, apologizing to affected passengers for the inconvenience however they have not responded about actions they plan to take in the future from preventing further outages.

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