United Airlines says ‘technology issue’ that prompted national ground stop is resolved

DENVER (KDVR) — Commercial airline United Airlines ordered a ground stop for flights at multiple major airports Wednesday evening.

According to the ground stop alert posted by the Federal Aviation Administration, the carrier had asked for the ground stop to be issued due to a technology issue, but didn’t specify the cause.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that he had been briefed by United CEO Scott Kirby and learned the issue was “specific to United’s operations, and is unrelated to the broader air traffic control system.”

The airline provided the following update at about 8:15 p.m. MDT:

“We are working with customers to get them to their destinations after a technology disruption on Wednesday evening. The underlying technology issue has been resolved, and, while we expect residual delays, our team is working to restore our normal operations.”
United Airlines spokesperson

A spokesperson for the airline told Nexstar’s KDVR in a statement earlier in the evening that United had grounded its mainline flights – larger planes that operate under the main carrier’s name. The statement went on to say that delays were expected to stretch into the evening, but United vowed to keep their customers safe and work to “get them to their destinations.”

As of 8:15 p.m. on Wednesday night, the United Airlines ground stop was still active on the FAA’s website. The FAA advisory said the stop would continue until 9 p.m. MDT.

The FAA also commented on the United Airlines technology issue on X.

“We’re aware United experienced a technology issue disrupting their operations. Some delays may continue as they work through the recovery process,” the FAA posted. “We’ve offered full support to help address their flight backlog and remain in close contact with United.”

Impacted air traffic controller facilities included Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Denver, and other U.S. facilities, but were also impacting facilities in Canada, according to the FAA ground stop.

At Denver International Airport there were 412 delays as of about 7 p.m. MDT, and 10 cancelled flights. Of those delays, 176 were attributed to United Airlines.

In San Francisco, the ground stop was lifted and flights had resumed as of 6:20 p.m PDT, an SFO spokesperson told Nexstar’s KRON.

This is a developing story. As more information is gathered, this report will be updated.