Washington, Aug 7 United Airlines temporarily suspended all of its mainline flights because of a technical problem with its systems, impacting thousands of passengers across the US. The problem was fixed within a few hours, although the airline cautioned about possible flight delays, local media reported.
"We are working with customers to get them to their destinations after a technology disruption on Wednesday evening," a United Airlines spokesperson told CNN.
"The underlying technology issue has been resolved, and while we expect residual delays, our team is working to restore our normal operations," the spokesperson said.
According to flight tracking service FlightAware, approximately 31 per cent of United's flights were delayed and about 1 per cent were cancelled as of 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday (local time), following the disruption.
Frustrated passengers took to social media to express their dismay as flights ground to a halt at major hubs including Chicago, Denver, Newark, Houston, and San Francisco.
The standstill at these key airports led the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to implement ground stops after United Airlines reported the system outage.
The FAA's system status showed that United had requested ground stops around 7:30 p.m. at several major airports.
Chicago, Denver, Newark, Houston, and San Francisco were all affected, with airport operations significantly impacted during the peak evening travel period.
This incident adds to a growing list of technology-related issues that have affected the US aviation sector, according to some media reports.
Just last month, Alaska Airlines experienced an IT failure that grounded flights for several hours. Meanwhile, air traffic control systems at a Newark-area airport have also faced outages multiple times this year, shaking public confidence in the system.
Earlier in January, a tragic mid-air collision near Washington's Reagan National Airport involving a passenger jet and a military helicopter resulted in the loss of dozens of lives, further raising concerns about aviation safety and reliability.
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