Topline
United Airlines on Wednesday night announced it had resolved a “technology issue” that had triggered a ground stop for the carrier’s flights at major U.S. airports earlier in the evening and triggered hundreds of delays and several dozen cancelations, although the airline was still tackling residual delays triggered by the outage.
United Airlines flights were disrupted by technology issues on Wednesday night, causing hundreds of flight delays and cancelations.
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Key Facts
Earlier on Wednesday evening, the airline told several news outlets that it was “holding United mainline flights at their departure airports,” due to a “technology issue,” without offering specifics.
In a post on X, Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said United CEO Scott Kirby had briefed him on the matter, adding that “the issue was specific to United’s operations, and is unrelated to the broader air traffic control system.”
In a notification on its website later on Wednesday night, the company said it has resolved the “technology issues that had been affecting flights,” but noted it was still experiencing delays as its team works to restore normal operations.
The Federal Aviation Administration also issued a statement saying it was aware that United “experienced a technology issue disrupting their operations,” and noted: “We’ve offered full support to help address their flight backlog.”
CBS News reported that United is treating all delays linked to tech issues as preventable ones, which means it will cover expenses incurred by affected passengers like hotels if needed.
How Did The Tech Issue And Ground Stop Impact United’s Flights?
According to FlightAware data, nearly 1100 United Airlines flights faced delays on Wednesday, which is 35% of the carrier’s scheduled flights for the day. In addition to this, 157 United flights were canceled. The residual impact of the ground stop was still being felt after midnight, as 70 flights scheduled for Thursday had been canceled, while 79 had been delayed.
How Long Did The Outage Last?
The outage first began at 6:12 p.m. ET and the company announced that it had resolved the issues by 10 p.m. ET. According to the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center, the first ground stops were requested by United at around 7:42 p.m. ET. The San Francisco ground stop was lifted at around 9 p.m. ET, while the others were lifted nearly an hour and a half later.