Overview

• A malfunction in United’s weight and balance computer system late Wednesday prompted a nationwide ground stop at major hubs including Chicago O’Hare, Newark, Denver, Houston and San Francisco.
• The Federal Aviation Administration issued emergency directives within minutes of United’s request, holding mainline departures while allowing in-air and regional United Express flights to continue.
• United’s technical teams diagnosed and fixed the outage within hours, lifting the ground stops by late evening and resuming normal departures.
• Despite the fix, residual delays carried into Thursday as the airline clears an operational backlog of more than a thousand affected flights.
• The FAA has offered full support and remains in close contact with United, underscoring increased regulatory focus on aviation software resilience.