American Airlines adds stops to two flights after pipeline outage

[May 11, 2021]    (Reuters) -American Airlines said on Monday it has added a stop to two long-haul flights out of Charlotte, North Carolina, because of a fuel supply shortage after the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline following a ransomware cyber attack.

An American Airlines Airbus A321-200 plane takes off from Los Angeles International airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California, U.S. March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake

American is the first U.S. airline to report an impact from the attack on Colonial, which carries nearly half the fuel consumed along the U.S. East Coast.

"We are closely monitoring the situation and working around the clock to ensure that we have an adequate supply of fuel across our network," American, the largest U.S. airline said, adding that the two impacted flights are expected to return to the original schedule on May 15.

American said its daily flight from Charlotte to Honolulu will now stop in Dallas, where passengers will change planes before flying onto Honolulu, while its daily flight from Charlotte to London will stop in Boston for additional fuel.

(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Leslie Adler)

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.