The grounding was triggered by an unspecified technology outage that affected the airline’s operations. A similar incident had occurred in July, when Alaska Airlines was forced to halt flights for around three hours because of an IT glitch.
Alaska Airlines announced on Thursday that it had grounded all its flights across airports, a move that also affected its subsidiary, Horizon Air, according to an advisory issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The airline had requested the ground stop for one hour and ten minutes, ending at 0000 GMT.
The suspension was caused by an unspecified technology outage that disrupted the airline’s operations. Alaska Airlines had faced a similar issue in July, when flights were grounded for about three hours due to an IT failure.
“Alaska Airlines is experiencing an IT outage affecting operations. A temporary ground stop is in place. We apologise for the inconvenience,” the airline said in a statement on social media. It also advised passengers to check their flight status before leaving for the airport.
Why Alaska Airlines flights are grounded?
Responding to customer queries online, the airline confirmed that its systems were encountering errors and assured that its IT team was working to resolve the problem quickly. Similar responses were given to users who reported issues with booking through the airline’s website.
“Unfortunately, we are experiencing an error on our system, but our IT team is working to get this resolved as soon as possible,” it said, in response to an X user who asked if the airline’s app was also having issues.
Alaska Airlines gave a similar response to a user who reported difficulties with bookings on its website. During the ground stop, ABC15 Arizona noted that 71 flights were delayed at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
In the July incident, operations were halted for about three hours before flights resumed. At that time, Alaska Airlines told Reuters that an IT outage around 8 PM Pacific (0300 GMT Monday) had impacted operations, prompting a temporary system-wide ground stop for both Alaska and Horizon Air flights. As in the latest case, no specific cause for the outage was disclosed.