American Airlines has admitted that sensitive information of both passengers and staff, including passport details and medical information, was accessed in a phishing scam.

It said a ‘limited number’ of staff mailboxes containing ‘a very small number’ of passengers and employee information was exposed.

The airline said there was no evidence of the data being misused following the incident in July.

“We are also currently implementing additional technical safeguards to prevent a similar incident,” an American Airlines spokesperson said.

The airline has contacted customers and staff whose names, dates of birth, passport or driver’s licence numbers, addresses, email addresses and certain medical information might have been stolen.

However, it declined to say how many people had been affected.

The attack is the latest in a long line of data breaches at airlines and other travel companies to be revealed.

Earlier this month, Philippine Airlines announced that passenger data from its customer loyalty program has been stolen in a cyberattack at technology host, Accelya.

Accelya also provides technology to more than 250 other airlines and has yet to confirm if others were affected by the cyberattack.