United Airlines issued a ground stop on Tuesday afternoon, briefly pausing departures and disrupting flights across its network.
The ground stop, which was lifted at 2 p.m. EDT after about 90 minutes, was requested by United following an “equipment outage,” according to an advisory issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Want more airline-specific news? Sign up for TPG’s free biweekly Aviation newsletter.
In a statement, United said that all planes that were airborne when the order was issued would continue to their destinations and cited a “technology issue.”
In a follow-up after the stoppage was lifted, the airline said that it had resolved the issue and that it would work with “impacted customers to help them reach their destinations as soon as possible.”
It was not immediately clear what technology system was affected, nor when things could be expected to return to normal. Subsequent bulletins posted by the FAA suggested that the issue affected communications between flight crews and United dispatchers.
Daily Newsletter
Rewarding reading in less than 5 minutes
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a Tweet that his department was monitoring the issue and would “make sure UA meets its obligations to affected passengers.”
As of 2:15 p.m. ET, the airline had delayed 260 of its mainline flights, or 9% of the day’s schedule, according to FlightAware.
The outage comes the day after Labor Day, the unofficial end of the summer travel season in the U.S., and months after United suffered an operational meltdown following several severe thunderstorms, leading to thousands of flight cancellations and delays.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
