Flight operations disrupted across U.S. hubs after United Airlines technical issue prompts FAA ground stop
VILLA PARK, Ill. — United Airlines was forced to halt departures and delay hundreds of flights on Wednesday after a technical issue disrupted its internal systems, prompting a temporary FAA ground stop across several major U.S. airports.
According to the airline, a failure occurred in its Unimatic system, a platform used to manage key flight operations, including dispatch coordination and crew assignments. The issue began around 6:12 p.m. Eastern Time, prompting United to halt all departures as a precaution while engineers worked to restore system functionality.
The ground stop affected United flights at multiple major U.S. hubs, including Newark Liberty International, San Francisco International, and Chicago O’Hare. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that it issued ground stops for United flights at the airline’s request. The status was also listed on the FAA’s Active Airport Events dashboard, which tracks national airspace disruptions in real time.
Data from FlightAware indicated that by 10:30 p.m. Eastern, more than 1,000 United flights, approximately 34% of its daily schedule, had been delayed.
United Airlines confirmed that the issue was not the result of a cybersecurity attack. By late Wednesday evening, the system had been restored, and departures resumed, although residual delays were still expected.
The FAA lifted all ground stops after the issue was resolved.
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