United Airlines reported significant delays on Wednesday evening after the airline requested a nationwide ground stop due to an IT issue. The ground stop began at approximately 6:15 p.m. EST and lasted for about two hours before United announced that the problem had been resolved just after 10 p.m. EST.
The disruption was caused by a technology problem that affected a system responsible for relaying flight times and weight and balance data to other operational programs within the company. As a result, United classified the situation as a controllable delay, which means it would cover certain expenses incurred by travelers due to the delay.
"We are working with customers to get them to their destinations after a technology disruption on Wednesday evening. The underlying technology issue has been resolved, and, while we expect residual delays, our team is working to restore our normal operations," United said in its statement.