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American Airlines was forced to grounded all its flight amid a massive system outage.
Holiday plans were thrown into jeopardy due to the ‘technical issue’ which the airline is yet to explain.
A ground stop which was issued by the FAA was lifted an hour after it was requested.
But the temporary halt has sparked travel chaos just a day before Christmas, one of the busiest travel periods of the festive season.
American Airlines grounds all flights on Christmas Eve due to ‘technical issue’
American Airlines has been forced to request a ground stop for all its flights due to the ongoing system outage.
‘A technical issue is affecting American flights this morning,’ the carrier said in a statement.
‘Our teams are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.’
FAA lifts ground stop
The Federal Aviation Authority has ended the ground stop affecting all American Airlines flights.
The ground stop was lifted at 7:50am EST, an hour after it was put in place.
Delays are still expected across the country as the airline scrambles to get back on track.
More than 150 flights delayed or cancelled
The early morning groundstop has already resulted in around 160 cancelled or delayed flights, accoridng to FlightAware.
Between 5am and 9am, there were 156 delays and four cancelled flights.
Most delays were being reported at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport.
AA passengers say they are being asked to deplane
‘Technical issue’ to blame for nationwide AA ground stop
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American Airlines flight delays on Christmas Eve as system goes down across country: Live updates