Alaska Airlines flights were grounded nationwide on Thursday after the airline said it was experiencing an “IT outage affecting operations.”
In an update late Thursday, the Seattle-based airline said the issue was a failure in its primary data center, and said it wasn’t a cyberattack or related to any other event.
As the ground stop stretched on, the airline said it was canceling Alaska Airlines flights as well as flights on Horizon Air, a regional airline owned by the airline. Hawaiian Airlines flights were not affected.
The Federal Aviation Administration first issued a ground stop about 7:30 p.m. ET after a request by the airline.
“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 airline said in a statement. “The safety of our flights was never compromised.”
The airline encouraged passengers to check the status of their flights before leaving for the airport.
“We deeply apologize to our guests whose travel plans have been disrupted today,” the airline said in a statement. “We’re working to get them to their destinations as quickly as we can.”
It’s the second IT outage affecting the airline this year.
In July, an IT outage halted flights for about three hours.
Alaska Airlines has flights to most of the U.S. and 12 countries and operates about 1,500 flights every day.
