Alaska Airlines and its regional unit Horizon Air have grounded all flights system-wide following an IT outage, the second such incident in less than six months.
The issue began around 15:30 local time on 23 October with a “failure at our primary data centre”.
Alaska adds: “The IT outage has impacted several of our key systems that enable us to run various operations, necessitating the implementation of the ground stop to keep our aircraft in position. The safety of our flights was never compromised.”
It stressed that the outage is not a “cybersecurity event”. Sister carrier Hawaiian Airlines is also not impacted by the IT outage, Alaska confirms.
According to a notice by the US Federal Aviation Administration, the ground stop applied to operations into Alaska’s Seattle hub, and is expected to last until 20:00 local time, with a possibility of being extended.
It is the second time that Alaska has had to ground its operations due to IT issues. On 20 July, the carrier and Horizon both experienced a “significant IT outage”, prompting a three-hour ground stop.
Over 200 flights were cancelled because of the incident, impacting over 13,500 travellers. It is unclear for now the impact of the current IT outage, with Alaska stating it is working to restore its operations.
