The company blamed a system-wide technology problem.
You might have faced an unexpected but perhaps brief delay if you were catching a United Airlines flight today. The company issued a nationwide ground stop because of a “computer issue,” as ABC News first reported. “United Airlines asked the FAA to pause the airline’s departures nationwide,” the Federal Aviation Administration told Engadget. By 1:49PM ET, however, United lifted the ground stop and it started to spin operations back up.
United wrote in a statement on X (formerly Twitter) that it experienced “a system-wide technology issue.” Airborne flights still carried on to their destinations during the brief stoppage. After the issue was resolved, the company said it had found a fix for the problem and that it had resumed flights.
We have identified a fix for the technology issue and flights have resumed. We’re working with impacted customers to help them reach their destinations as soon as possible.
— United Airlines (@united) September 5, 2023
United grounded its flights following a similar issue in the UK just last week. An air traffic control glitch led to the cancellation of a fifth of UK departures and 27 percent of flights that were due to arrive into the country last Monday, when the issue occurred.
Update, September 5, 2023, 2:01PM ET: This story has been updated to note that the ground stop has been lifted.
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