American Airlines Resumes Flights After Temporary Grounding of All Services

American Airlines announces the resumption of flights after a brief suspension of all services. The airline cites operational challenges as the cause, with services now back on track.

American Airlines announced that it is resuming flights after all services were grounded at the beginning of Christmas Eve, one of the busiest travel days of the year.

The airline attributes the problem to a “vendor technology issue” but states that it has now been “resolved.”

The Federal Aviation Authority declared a nationwide “groundstop” for American Airlines flights, which was lifted after one hour.

Numerous American Airlines flights planned for this morning have been delayed by one to two hours.

This brief outage brings back memories of a more substantial IT failure that was triggered in July by an unintended software update from the US cybersecurity company CrowdStrike.

The worldwide IT outage that ensued impacted small businesses, disrupted health systems, and caused travel chaos far greater than what we have experienced today.

A CrowdStrike executive felt compelled to issue a humble apology when summoned before a US congressional committee to explain the situation.

We have not experienced disruptions of that magnitude here, and it is unlikely that anyone from American Airlines will issue a similar apology. For reference, AA attributes today’s brief flight interruptions to a “vendor technology issue.”

This episode serves as yet another reminder of how much millions of people’s lives and plans rely on IT systems that we seldom consider—until something goes wrong.