A faulty app caused American Airlines to ground dozens of its jets.

The glitch caused iPad software – used by the planes’ pilots and co-pilots for viewing flight plans – to stop working.

The firm’s cockpits went “paperless” in 2013 to save its staff having to lug heavy paperwork on board. AA estimated the move would save it more than $1.2m (£793,600) in fuel every year.

The company said that it had now found a fix for the problem.

“We experienced technical issues with an application installed on some pilot iPads,” said a spokesman.

“This issue was with the third-party application, not the iPad, and caused some departure delays last night and this morning.

“Our pilots have been able to address the issue by downloading the application again at the gate prior to take-off and, as a back-up, are able to rely on paper charts they can obtain at the airport.

“We apologise for the inconvenience to our customers.”

Serge Gojkovich, chief executive of car parking app-maker Curbstand, was among the passengers affected.

He tweeted that his San Francisco-to-Los Angeles flight only got airborne after its pilots told passengers they had printed off the maps they needed.