United Airlines managed to restart its flights this Wednesday after fixing a technical issue that had forced a temporary suspension of its operations across several U.S. airports. The disruption severely impacted the airline’s network, with over a thousand flights delayed and thousands of passengers stranded.
Root of the Problem: Unimatic, the Airline’s Key System
The airline explained that the disruption was linked to its Unimatic system, an internal platform that collects and distributes critical flight information. This system feeds other applications responsible for calculating aircraft weight and balance, as well as recording flight times.
The failure in Unimatic directly affected United’s operations, prompting ground stops at some of its major hubs, including airports in Newark, Denver, Houston, and Chicago, as confirmed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) website.
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Affected Flights and Lingering Delays
As of 10:25 p.m. ET on Wednesday, data from FlightAware showed that 1,038 United flights—34% of its daily operations—had been delayed as a direct result of the glitch.
Although the airline restored its systems, it warned that residual delays might persist as operations return to normal. “Our team is working to resume normal operations as quickly as possible,” United stated in an official release.
Authorities’ Response and Passenger Compensation
The FAA acknowledged the incident and offered full support to help United resolve the operational backlog. Meanwhile, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy clarified on social media platform X that the issue was exclusive to United and unrelated to the country’s air traffic control system.
Regarding assistance for affected passengers, the airline stated it was treating the incident as a “controllable delay.” This means United will cover passenger expenses, such as hotel accommodations, when applicable.
Another Recent Case: Alaska Airlines Also Faced System Failures
This incident comes just weeks after Alaska Airlines encountered a similar situation. In April 2024, the airline grounded its entire fleet due to a failure in the system calculating aircraft weight and balance. This marked the second such disruption for Alaska in just over a year.
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