United Airlines has successfully resumed operations after a sudden and widespread technology outage forced the airline to ground hundreds of flights across the United States on Wednesday evening.
The disruption, caused by a failure in the airline’s internal Unimatic system—a legacy tool critical for flight planning and crew coordination—resulted in delays and cancellations that rippled across major U.S. hubs.
The incident began shortly after 6:00 p.m. ET when United requested a nationwide ground stop from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), halting all departures to prevent operational chaos.
Airports in Newark, Denver, Chicago, San Francisco, and Houston were among the most severely affected.
By 10:00 p.m. ET, United confirmed that its IT team had resolved the issue, and flight departures began to resume gradually.
However, the disruption left a significant backlog, with over 1,000 flights delayed—roughly 35% of United’s entire schedule for the day—and several cancellations still under review.
In a statement, the airline said, “We experienced a technical issue with a system that sends key flight information. We identified the root cause and restored operations safely.”
United has also categorized the situation as a “controllable delay,” meaning affected travelers are eligible for compensation under the airline’s customer service commitment. This includes hotel accommodations, meal vouchers, and rebooking support where necessary.
The U.S. Department of Transportation acknowledged the glitch and confirmed that it was “isolated to United Airlines and not part of a broader system outage.”
The FAA also stressed that the issue did not compromise safety or involve federal air traffic control systems.
Industry analysts point to United’s continued reliance on aging software infrastructure as a potential risk factor.
The Unimatic system, which dates back decades, has long been earmarked for replacement—but fully transitioning to modern platforms has proven difficult for many legacy carriers.
Passengers took to social media throughout the evening, expressing frustration over the lack of clear communication.
“We sat on the tarmac for over two hours without updates,” one traveler posted. Others praised ground staff who tried to manage the situation as best they could despite limited information.
This incident is the latest in a growing trend of IT-related disruptions plaguing global airlines as they struggle to modernize aging digital ecosystems.
Just last year, a similar systems failure hit a rival airline, underscoring the fragility of tech infrastructure in the aviation sector.
For now, United says it is reviewing internal protocols to prevent a recurrence and will continue to provide support to passengers impacted by the delay.
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