Alaska Airlines Resumes Flights After System-Wide Tech Outage/ Newslooks/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/ Morning Edition/ Alaska Airlines resumed flights Sunday night following a three-hour IT outage that grounded all operations. The issue caused a system-wide stop across Alaska Airlines and its regional partner, Horizon Air. Though the ground stop is lifted, flight delays are expected as normal operations resume.
Alaska Airlines IT Outage: Quick Looks
- Three-hour IT outage grounded all Alaska and Horizon flights
- Outage began around 8 p.m. PT, lifted at 11 p.m.
- FAA confirmed system-wide ground stop during outage
- Residual delays and operational recovery expected
- Cause of outage remains undisclosed by airline
- Follows previous tech-related disruption in Seattle in 2024
- NTSB recently praised Alaska crew for handling January emergency
- Horizon Air, a subsidiary, also impacted by outage
Alaska Airlines Resumes Flights After System-Wide Tech Outage
Deep Look
Alaska Airlines has restored operations after a technical issue forced a full system shutdown, grounding all of its flights nationwide for approximately three hours. The disruption began around 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time on Sunday and affected both Alaska Airlines and its regional partner, Horizon Air. The system-wide ground stop was lifted by 11:00 p.m., according to an official announcement from the Seattle-based airline.
The airline described the situation as an “IT outage” in a social media post issued late Sunday night. The message stated that the outage had temporarily halted operations for all Alaska and Horizon flights. As of Monday morning, flights have resumed, though the airline cautioned that passengers should expect delays and continued schedule disruptions as aircraft and crews are repositioned.
“As we reposition our aircraft and crews, there will most likely be residual impacts to our flights. It will take some time to get our overall operations back to normal,” the company’s statement read.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also confirmed the event on its website, indicating a ground stop had been issued for all Alaska Airlines and Horizon aircraft during the outage.
Background on Alaska Airlines’ Recent Operational Challenges
This isn’t the first time Alaska Airlines has experienced IT-related disruptions. In September 2024, the airline briefly grounded flights out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport due to unspecified technical issues. Those issues were resolved within a few hours, but they disrupted operations during a busy travel window.
More recently, Alaska Airlines made national headlines following a major midair emergency earlier this year. On January 5, 2024, a door plug panel detached from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 shortly after takeoff, leaving a hole in the cabin that led to the partial ejection of cabin items and significant panic onboard. Thankfully, no passengers were seriously injured. In a report released last month, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) credited the crew with ensuring the safety and survival of everyone on board.
The Horizon Air Impact
Horizon Air, a regional subsidiary of Alaska Airlines, was also affected by the outage. Horizon primarily operates shorter routes throughout the Pacific Northwest and West Coast and shares many IT systems with its parent company. As a result, its operations were suspended for the same duration as Alaska’s.
The two airlines are closely integrated operationally, so IT infrastructure outages at one can easily cascade to the other. Sunday’s issue, while not yet publicly explained in technical detail, serves as another reminder of the vulnerability of airline systems to centralized IT failures.
Recovery Underway, Details Still Sparse
As of Monday morning, flights are back in the air, but operations are not yet fully normalized. Passengers with scheduled flights early in the week are advised to check their flight status regularly and prepare for potential delays.
The airline has not disclosed what caused the IT outage or whether it involved internal system failure, third-party software, or a potential cybersecurity breach. The lack of detail has left passengers and aviation analysts alike speculating about the root cause.
Alaska Airlines, which is headquartered in Seattle, operates a major share of regional and cross-country flights in the western United States. With its significant market presence and dependence on complex IT systems for scheduling, ticketing, crew coordination, and maintenance, any disruption has wide-reaching consequences.
As investigations continue and the airline works to restore its flight network fully, the event underscores the need for robust IT infrastructure and contingency planning in commercial aviation.
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