MINNEAPOLIS — Flight operations were slowly returning on Friday morning, after several major U.S. airlines temporarily halted departures as a widespread technology outage affected multiple industries worldwide.
Delta Air Lines said it had "resumed some flight departures" in a post on its website just before 7 a.m. CT, but said more delays and cancelations are expected Friday after originally pausing its global flight schedule early Friday morning.
Delta also announced a travel waiver for customers with flights scheduled for Friday, July 19. Passengers can waive the fare difference on any rebooked travel on or before July 24, or pay the far difference for any flights booked after July 24.
American Airlines also brought its operations back online early Friday morning after hours of issues.
“Earlier this morning, a technical issue with a vendor impacted multiple carriers, including American. As of 5 a.m. ET, we have been able to safely re-establish our operation," the airline said in a statement. "We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”
An American spokesperson said a ground stop was in place for departing flights, and the airline remains "in contact with planes currently in flight."
A United Airlines spokesperson confirmed a "third party software outage is impacting computer systems worldwide ... While we work to restore those systems, we are holding all aircraft at their departure airports. Flights already airborne are continuing to their destinations."
Minnesota-based Sun Country Airlines also confirmed its airline operations were affected Friday morning by an "additional outage" following earlier technology issues on Thursday evening.
Frontier Airlines was offering credits or refunds for some passengers affected by delays.
The Federal Aviation Administration is assisting airlines with these issues, and released a statement:
"The FAA is closely monitoring a technical issue impacting IT systems at U.S. airlines. Several airlines have requested FAA assistance with ground stops for their fleets until the issue is resolved. For more information, monitor fly.faa.gov for updates."