By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-12-24 13:01:30 | Updated at 2024-12-25 02:17:48
13 hours ago
American Airlines on Tuesday grounded all its flights in the US due to an unspecified technical issue, according to the company and a regulatory notice, disrupting the travel plans of thousands of passengers set to fly out on Christmas Eve.
The company has not said why it was stopping all flights. Numerous passengers were posting on social media that their flights had been stuck on the runway at various airports and were now being sent back to the gate.
“An estimated time frame has not been provided, but they’re trying to fix it in the shortest possible time,” the company said in a post on X, responding to a question from a stranded flier.
Shares of the carrier were down 3.8 per cent before the bell. A notice on the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) website merely said the company had requested a nationwide groundstop, without giving a reason.
As of 7:30am Eastern Standard Time, American had not made a formal statement on social media, and was only responding to comments on X as numerous users posted there, as well as on Bluesky and Facebook.
“Hey, @AmericanAir just tell us whether we should go home or not. Please don’t make us wait in the airport for hours,” wrote one user.
