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Travelers were scrambled Wednesday as United Airlines planes suddenly landed and more than 1,000 flights delayed across the US
The problem was caused by the airline saying it was a technical issue, but what exactly happened?
Here’s what we know:
What were the technical issues that led to the ground outage?
The affected system, called Unimatic, houses flight information provided to other systems, including those that reduce weight and balance and track flight times, according to United. It is not clear what caused the problem.
“Because of technology issues, we are holding United’s mainline flights at their departure airport,” the company said in a statement at the time. Safety is our number one priority and we work with our customers to reach our destination. ”
The system went outage lasted several hours, as the company explained, the statement said. It had nothing to do with recent concerns about cybersecurity in the aviation industry.
Which flights were affected?
All United Airlines flights to Chicago were suspended at the departure airport Wednesday around 6:30pm, according to a warning on the FAA website.
Flights to United Hubs at Denver, Newark, Houston and San Francisco airports were also affected.
As of 8:45pm on CT, United flights departing from O’Hare were averaged 120 minutes late, according to the FAA.
The company said the underlying issues have been resolved and they are beginning to work through the flight backlog to allow travelers to move again. However, along with airports in Newark and Denver, ground stops are now enabled at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.
“We are working with our customers to take our customers to their destination after tech disruptions Wednesday evening. The underlying technology issues have been resolved. Our team is working to recover normal operations while we expect the remaining delays,” the spokesman said.
About 35% of all airline flights were cancelled on Wednesday, with an additional 6% cancelled, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight confusion.
United Airlines apologized on social media, saying in some cases it would pay for hotels and other expenses incurred by travelers due to delays.
“Hey, I apologize for the confusion in my trip today,” the airline told customers on social platform X. “Our team is working to resolve the outages as quickly as possible.
How long will the delay last?
The issue was resolved late Wednesday, but some service disruption continued until Thursday. As of 5:30am on Thursday, ground stops were not valid.
The FAA said in a statement Thursday it is aware of the disruption in Operation United, pointing out that delays could continue as airlines recover.
“We addressed their flight backlog and provided full support to keep them in close contact with United,” the FAA said.
United Airlines apologized on social media, saying in some cases it would pay for hotels and other expenses incurred by travelers due to delays.
“Hey, I apologize for the confusion in my trip today,” the airline told customers on social platform X. “Our team is working to resolve the outages as quickly as possible.
Who was affected?
United Airlines passenger Benjamin Fuentes, who flew from Boston to Houston, told ABC affiliate KTRK-TV that he and other passengers were told they would be waiting for a while after the plane landed.
“For the first hour, people were already standing up and there was nothing to do, so they were walking around the cabin,” he said. “I got on Netflix.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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