United Airlines Temporarily Grounded for Nationwide IT Outage
Brief Suspension of Flights Disrupts Travel Plans
Flights Resumed After Computer Issues Resolved
United Airlines, one of the largest airlines in the United States, briefly grounded its entire fleet nationwide on Tuesday morning due to a computer outage. The grounding affected nearly 3,000 flights, causing disruptions and delays for passengers.
The outage, which started around 1:00 AM Eastern Time, affected United's reservations system and other critical computer systems. As a result, the airline was unable to check in passengers, load luggage, or schedule flights, forcing it to ground all aircraft.
By mid-afternoon, United had managed to cancel only seven flights, significantly less than the average of 16 cancellations it typically experiences on a Tuesday. The airline worked quickly to resolve the issue, and flights began resuming gradually around 7:00 AM Eastern Time.
Other major US carriers, such as American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, also experienced ground stops but lifted them earlier than United. American and Delta resumed flights around 5:10 AM Eastern Time.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) initially issued a ground stop for all United flights nationwide but lifted it once the issue was resolved. The outage did not affect any other airlines or airports.
United Airlines has apologized for the inconvenience caused by the temporary grounding. The airline is currently investigating the cause of the outage and implementing measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
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