UPDATED: April 29, 12:35 p.m. ET
A "glitch" affected the map app on the iPads used by pilots on American Airlines flights and caused delays Tuesday and Wednesday, according to several reports from passengers.
The app provides navigation charts necessary for flying. Passengers posted on Twitter Tuesday night that a pilot said a system-wide outage was causing delays for the carrier's fleet of Boeing 737s. Two dozen flights were delayed Tuesday, and another 30 were delayed Wednesday.
"Some flights are experiencing an issue with a software application," American Airlines tweeted at passengers Tuesday night. "For some, they've returned to the gate for Wi-Fi to fix."
American Airlines spokeswoman Andrea Huguely told the Associated Press that pilots have to delete, then reinstall the map app on their iPads.
FlightAware showed American Airlines Flight 1654, from Dallas-Fort Worth to Austin, as delayed. The Boeing 737-800 was originally scheduled to depart at 8:20 p.m. CDT.
Flight 2276, from Dallas-Fort Worth to Indianapolis, was also delayed Tuesday night, according to FlightAware. And flights from John F. Kennedy to Seattle and Dallas-Fort Worth to Washington Dulles -- both operated on 737s -- were also delayed.
@AmericanAir is the worst. Stuck on Tarmac for an hour without updates. #worstairlineever #canijustgohomealready— amiel (@roxygi2286) April 29, 2015
"We've identified the issue, we've identified the solution, and we are working on it right now," the airline told The Verge.
.@AmericanAir experiencing system-wide technical glitch resulting in not being able to view nav charts. Pilot searching for a printer. #DFW— GradyB (@GradyBishop) April 29, 2015
Pilot just told us ALL 737's in American Airline fleet grounded...iPad shutdown glitch...wtf #apple we have no AC pic.twitter.com/4INSxMoeVN— pmcrell (@pmcrell) April 29, 2015
On an #AmericanAirlines flight & both pilots' iPads crashed, losing flight data before pushback. Evidently affecting entire fleet of 737s.— Patrick Bedwell (@PatrickBedwell) April 29, 2015
American introduced iPads into all of its cockpits in 2013, a move that saves more than $1 million in fuel each year, according to the airline.
Before the introduction of the tablets, pilots carried a paper manual with airport maps and airway charts that weighed as much as 35 pounds. Many pilots have applauded the switch, noting the ease of use of a tablet for the necessary flight information.
#iPad jokes starting to annoy me on @AmericanAir #1654 - @hotelninja thinks it's funny— Bill Jacaruso (@bjacaruso) April 29, 2015