United has resumed normal operations after a technology problem grounded airplanes and delayed over 1,000 flights late Wednesday.
The carrier halted departures at its major hubs, including Chicago, Denver, Houston, and Newark, New Jersey, shortly after 6 p.m. due to an issue with a computer system. United passengers were not allowed to board their flights, and some faced delays getting off their landed airplanes due to backups at the gates.
United’s regional service was not affected.
The problem was fixed by around 10 p.m., by which time just over 1,000 flights had been delayed and hundreds canceled.
“The underlying technology issue has been resolved, and, while we expect residual delays, our team is working to restore our normal operations,” the airline said.
CBS News reported that United was treating the situation as a “preventable delay,” meaning it will compensate passengers who booked hotels or incurred other expenses as a result of the glitch.
Airline officials said the affected computer system, known as Unimatic, stores and feeds information about flights to other systems, including those that determine an aircraft’s weight and balance. It was not clear what caused the problem with Unimatic, but a cyberattack has been ruled out, they added.
The airline canceled nearly 7% of its scheduled flights yesterday, according to Anuvu Pulse data.
“I’ve been briefed by United CEO Scott Kirby on their company’s internal tech outage,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on X late Wednesday. “The issue was specific to United’s operations, and is unrelated to the broader air traffic control system.”
