Delta, United, & American Airlines Flights Grounded Due to Worldwide Communication Outage

Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and American Airlines flights nationwide were grounded this morning due to a communication outage.

Representatives for all airlines told PEOPLE that worldwide IT outages caused the grounding. As of 8 a.m. ET on Friday, July 19, the outlet noted that “some flights began to take off again in the United States, but transportation delays are likely to ripple throughout the day.”

Restoration of travel varies by airline, with American Airlines claiming that it has restored flights. “Earlier this morning, a technical issue with a vendor impacted multiple carriers, including American. As of 5 a.m. ET, we have been able to safely re-establish our operation. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” American Airlines said in a statement obtained by ABC News.

“All Delta flights are paused as we work through a vendor technology issue,” a Delta spokesperson said in a statement at 3:54 a.m. ET. “Any customers whose flights are impacted will be notified by Delta via the Fly Delta app and text message. Customers should use the Fly Delta app for updates. We apologize for the inconvenience as our teams work through this issue.” However, as of nearly 8 a.m., some flight departures have resumed, according to an update from Delta’s news hub.

“A third party software outage is impacting computer systems worldwide, including at United. While we work to restore those systems, we are holding all aircraft at their departure airports. Flights already airborne are continuing to their destinations,” United Airlines said in a statement.

Per ABC News, the airline groundings are due to a “wave of IT outages across the globe,” which also put banks and other institutions at a standstill as Microsoft-based computers stopped working. According to CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity tech firm, the outage “was not a cyberattack. Instead, there was an issue with software and a fix had been deployed.”

CrowdStrike’s CEO, George Kurtz, posted on X to explain the situation in more depth. “CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted,” he said.

CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. We…

— George Kurtz (@George_Kurtz) July 19, 2024

This is just the latest issue faced by Delta Air Lines, which has already been beleaguered by uniform policy updates, following employees wearing Palestinian flags, and a now-viral incident where spoiled, moldy food was served on an international flight.

Following complaints from passengers about the food in the main cabin, Delta Air Lines flight No. 136, a red eye from Detroit to Amsterdam, was diverted to JFK International Airport on Wednesday, July 3.

The number of passengers that were served the tainted food prior to the flight being diverted to JFK is unknown, though. The New York Post was informed by sources that after consuming food smeared with black bold, at least 24 people fell ill. Air traffic controllers informed Delta that the meal caused 70 illnesses, of which 24 were treated for symptoms; no one was admitted to the hospital.