Alaska Airlines has been forced to ground all its flights across its entire network following an undisclosed technical error that impacted its systems.
The carrier confirmed the widespread disruption early on Monday.
“We are currently experiencing an IT outage that’s impacting our operations,” the Seattle-based airline said in a social media update’
“We requested a temporary, system-wide ground stop until the issue is resolved.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) website showed a system-wide ground stop for Alaska Airlines at all airports, effective shortly before 3am on Monday.
A subsequent FAA update clarified that the grounding applied to all Alaska mainline and Horizon aircraft, referring to the airline’s subsidiary.
Customers were advised to check the status of their flights before travelling to airports.
In September 2024, Alaska Airlines said it grounded its flights in Seattle briefly due to “significant disruptions” from an unspecified technology problem that was resolved within hours.
Door plug incident
Three passengers who sued Alaska Airlines and Boeing after a door plug fell out of their plane at 16,000 feet settled out of court in July.
These passengers were on board Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 from Portland to Ontario, California on 5 January 2024 when a door plug suddenly flew off the Boeing 737 Max jet mid-air.
They sued Alaska Airlines and Boeing for $1 billion in 2024 but settled out of court in July, according to KPTV.
The lawsuit was dismissed on 7 July with prejudice, KPTV reported, which means they cannot refile the same lawsuit later.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed as part of the settlement agreement, their attorney said.
In June, the National Transportation Safety Board ruled Boeing was at fault in the frightening incident.
The agency said it found four bolts missing from the door plug, which caused it to slowly slide out of place for more than 100 flights until it finally fell off.
