FAA grounds American Airlines flights due to IT outage

A nationwide ground stop for American Airlines flights was issued and then lifted on Tuesday, July -28, 2026, after a system-wide IT outage disrupted the carrier's operations for nearly an hour. The Federal Aviation Administration issued the order, which halted all American Airlines departures across the United States while flights already airborne were permitted to continue.

The FAA advisory, citing an IT outage, took effect at approximately 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time. American Airlines confirmed the disruption, stating it was experiencing a system-wide IT outage and that its technical teams were working to restore service. The airline implemented a temporary ground stop while its teams addressed the issue, preventing any of its planes from departing during that period.

By 7:18 p.m. ET, the ground stop was canceled. American Airlines announced shortly after 7:20 p.m. that its systems were coming back online and flights were beginning to depart again. The airline described the problem as a technology issue that had briefly impacted connectivity for some of its systems and apologized to customers for the inconvenience.

The outage caused significant delays across the airline's network....