There is a ground stop for United Airlines flights at multiple airports across the country Wednesday evening, impacting major hubs like Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
United said in a statement that a “technology issue” is causing them to hold departures.
“We expect additional flight delays this evening as we work through this issue. Safety is our top priority, and we’ll work with our customers to get them to their destinations,” the statement continued.
The technical issues are also impacting airports in Denver, Houston, San Francisco and Newark.
United said flights that are already in the air can continue to to their destination and United Express’ regional flights are not affected, but may be delayed going into some of the airline’s hubs because the ground stops have caused a bit of a traffic jam.
The exact number of delays from these ground stops are not yet known, but are in the hundreds and rising.
Video taken by a passenger at O’Hare shows a line of United planes stopped on the tarmac that have recently landed, waiting because no gates are available.
United also sent a text message to passengers saying in part, “Due to a technology outage, we are temporarily holding some Untied flights at their departure airports to manage gate availability at destination airports. This may result in delays throughout the evening as we work to resolve the situation.”
Shortly after 8 p.m. CT, the pilot on a United flight in Chicago told passengers the issue has been resolved but there were still major delays in place because passengers deplaned from flights waiting to depart and now would have to re-board in order for those flights to leave their gates and make room for the arriving flights that have been waiting on the tarmac.
The FAA’s website shows the ground stop remains in place, but says delays at O’Hare are averaging 90 minutes and decreasing as of 8:10 p.m. CT.
The ground stops are only affecting United flights. The duration of the ground stop and the resulting delays are not currently known.
Kris Van Cleave
contributed to this report.
