675 flights delayed, cancelled due to technical issue at Dayton PSA Airlines headquarters

Ross Feinstein, a spokesman with PSA owner American Airlines confirmed that the problem began in Dayton. He declined to be interviewed and would not go into detail or explain what is meant by “technical issue.”

American Airlines may not fully recover from the cancellations until Sunday, said Terrence Slaybaugh, director of aviation for the city of Dayton and Dayton International Airport said. But, Feinstein said there were tickets available on American Airlines flights departing from Dayton on Friday and Saturday.

» RELATED: Several renovation efforts underway for Dayton International Airport

Airlines typically have agreements with other airlines to take on passengers when flights are cancelled. When American Airlines has no available flights, the company often re-books passengers on Delta Airlines, said Slaybaugh.

“But we just don’t have the capacity to help everyone,” Slaybaugh said. “It’s hard for them to just move people to other flights.”

The technical issue has since been resolved and the carrier resumed operations Friday afternoon, American Airlines media relations officials said in a statement.

“Our team members are focused on taking care of our customers by accommodating them on mainline flights or other regional carriers…We never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans, and we are sorry for the trouble this caused. Customer relations will be reaching out to all of those who have been impacted by this issue,” a statement from American Airlines read.

PSA flights were first halted at 4 p.m. Thursday after problems emerged at the airline’s local operations center. The outage affected about 4 percent of American’s global flight operations, primarily shorter routes from its hub in Charlotte, N.C., American Airlines officials said by email Friday, Bloomberg reports.

Around 24 American Airlines flights serviced through Dayton were canceled Thursday and Friday.

» RELATED: Thousands stranded at Charlotte airport because of PSA cancelations

At least 12 flights were canceled at the Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky airport and one flight from Charlotte to Columbus was canceled, according to flight trackers on each airport’s website.

Dayton resident Kevin Haldeman was in California for work earlier this week and ran into trouble when trying to travel home Thursday. His connecting flight from Chicago to Dayton on Thursday was at first delayed for more than three hours and was eventually canceled.

“(I) didn’t have a firm flight or anything so I ended up getting a rental car and driving home…(I) got back about 3:30 this morning,” Haldeman said.

Traveler Chris Williams was at the Dayton airport Friday morning, trying to get home to Greenville, N.C.

He had multiple flights canceled and should have originally arrived home at 11:30 p.m. Thursday but the cancellations meant he wasn’t scheduled to arrive back in Greenville until 7:30 p.m. Friday.

“I’m flying two different airlines and I’ve got three flights to get home and it’s still a little iffy so here we go,” he said.

Williams travels a lot for work but said all the cancellations were “very frustrating.”

“They said the system went down with PSA, and just the communication and everything,” Williams said. “I’m kind of used to it but it’s never been as bad as this.”

Thousands of passengers were reportedly stranded at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport early Friday because of the cancellations.

FIVE FAST READS

• UD, Premier say former fairgrounds may not be fully redeveloped for decades

• Ohio public university presidents fight for more funding at Statehouse

• Algae plaguing Ohio lakes could force Kasich to take executive action

• PHOTOS: Retail tycoon’s former Ohio mansion on sale for $3.95 million

• Ohio colleges taking steps to avoid unchecked sex abuse cases