Alaska Airlines temporarily grounded its entire fleet of planes on Sunday night, with passengers about to travel warned to check before leaving for the airport.
The drastic action follows an unspecified technical system outage that has impacted their operations. The company warned of ongoing residual actions that involve both Alaska and Horizon Air flights.
“We are experiencing issues with our IT systems. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to resolve the issues,” a message on its website read.
On X, the company said, “We requested a temporary, system-wide ground stop until the issue is resolved.”
The Seattle-based company added that anyone traveling with them should check the status of their flight before leaving for the airport.
The company requested an order to ground over 200 aircrafts at around 11 p.m. Sunday, Eastern time, according to a report from the New York Times.
Three hours later, the ground stop was lifted.
“At approximately 8 p.m. Pacific on July 20, we experienced an IT outage that resulted in a temporary, system-wide ground stop for Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air flights,” the airline said.
“As of 11 p.m. Pacific, the ground stop has been lifted, and our operations have resumed. 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 Alaska Air Group website states that its operational fleet includes 238 Boeing 737 aircraft and 87 Embraer 175 aircraft.
Alaska Airlines also grounded its entire fleet in April 2024.
At that time, it was due to problems with the system that calculates the weight and balance of aircraft.
That grounding followed a terrifying incident on Jan. 5, 2024 when a door plug panel blew out at 16,000 feet after leaving Portland, Oregon, with 171 passengers on board.
The flight rapidly lost pressure, forcing an emergency landing. Seven passengers were injured when the hole in the fuselage sucked a pilot’s headset and even the shirt off a passenger. The plug panel was later found in the backyard of a home near Portland.
Earlier this month, Boeing and Alaska Airlines settled a $1 billion lawsuit out of court.
