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UPDATE:
American Airlines confirmed it resumed flights after a "technical issue" caused an hourlong nationwide delay on Christmas Eve morning.
"A vendor technology issue briefly affected flights this morning," American said in a statement to ABC News on Tuesday (December 24). "That issue has been resolved and flights have resumed."
"We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this morning," the statement added. "It’s all hands on deck as our team is working diligently to get customers where they need to go as quickly as possible."
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American Airlines grounded all flights nationwide on the morning of Christmas Eve, one of the busiest travel days of the year, Tuesday (December 24) due to a "technical issue."
"We're currently experiencing a technical issue with all American Airlines flights. Your safety is our utmost priority, once this is rectified, we'll have you safely on your way to your destination," American Airlines said in a post shared on its X account.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the airline requested a ground stop for all its flights amid the technical issue, ABC News reports.
American Airlines said it's "timeframe" for resuming flights was undetermined," adding that it was trying to correct the issue "in the shortest time possible,"
"Our teams are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience," the airline said in a statement to ABC News Tuesday morning.
The grounded flights come amid reports that a record number of Americans are scheduled for airline travel during the holiday season, with the Transportation Security Administration expecting to screen nearly 40 million people between December 19 and January 2, an increase of 6.2% from the previous year. American Airlines said it expected December 27 to be its busiest travel day of the holiday season, which officially started on December 18.