United Airlines and American Airlines were plagued by flight delays Wednesday due to a brief ground stoppage and technical issue, respectively.
A United spokesperson told The Hill on Wednesday that the airline “experienced a brief connectivity issue just before midnight Central time on Tuesday, but has since resumed normal operations.” The stoppage impacted all United flights in the U.S. and Canada.
The spokesperson added that the stoppage stemmed from an inability to connect to the airline’s technology network during maintenance, but departures resumed after 36 minutes and the outage is not connected to a cybersecurity threat.
According to Flightaware.com, more than 170 United flights were delayed as of midday Wednesday, while 14 were canceled. The United spokesperson said no cancellations were because of the outage and that “only a small handful” of the delays were.
Last month, more than 1,000 United flights were delayed due to what the airline called a “technology disruption.” The stoppage Wednesday is unrelated to the August disruption, the United spokesperson added.
Hours after the United stoppage, American began experiencing what a spokesperson called “a technical issue impacting some of our maintenance applications,” in a statement obtained by NewsNation, The Hill’s sister company.
The airline also claimed that no flights have been canceled. But according to Flightaware.com, at least 995 American flights were delayed and 63 were canceled as of midday Wednesday.
The Hill has reached out to American to clarify whether any of the delays or cancellations are due to the technical issue.
