Travel chaos as major airline issues ground stop for all planes nationwide amid system outage

Published: 00:20, 29 July 2026 | Updated: 00:30, 29 July 2026 American Airlines announced Tuesday evening that it was experiencing a 'systemwide IT outage' and had grounded all of its planes across the United States. The airline posted on social media that its 'systems are down.'  'Our IT team is working as quickly as possible to get everything restored,' it added. The Federal Aviation Administration's Air Traffic Control System Command Center then issued a ground stop advisory - preventing all American Airlines planes nationwide from taking off.  It is unclear what may have caused the outage, but as of 6.30pm ET, more than 1,500 people reported having trouble with the American Airlines app on Downdetector.  Comments on a Reddit thread also suggested the issue was affecting employee systems, with one user bemoaning: 'I can't even sign into the company website or video training or anything.' The Federal Aviation Administration's Air Traffic Control System Command Center issued a ground stop advisory preventing all American Airlines planes nationwide from taking off amid a systemwide IT outage This is a breaking news story and will be updated.