Alaska Airlines flights grounded due to IT outage as FAA orders stop advisory

Alaska Airlines grounded all mainline and subcarrier planes Wednesday due to tech issues —it appears the order is in affect until 3.45pm local time.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center placed Alaska Airlines on a nationwide ground stop due to an IT outage, which excludes SkyWest Airlines. The decision has expectedly inconvenienced passengers as one tweeted on X: “Slightly unsettling headline to read currently aboard an Alaska Airlines flight.”

The grounding took effect around 2.32pm local time and is expected to last until 3.45pm, according to an advisory by the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center on its website.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 airliners sit on the tarmac at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on March 25, 2024 in Seattle, Washington

The agency hasn’t divulged further information about the advisory, but Alaska Airlines said it was experiencing challenges while updating software. “This morning we experienced an issue while performing an upgrade to the system that calculates our weight and balance,” the airlines said in a statement.

“A ground stop for all Alaska and Horizon flights was instituted at approximately 7:50am PT. We’re working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”

An Alaska Airlines plane taxis at San Francisco International Airport on January 25, 2024 in San Francisco, California

Kris Van Cleave, a senior transportation and national correspondent for CBS News, said the airline requested an FAA ground stop for Alaska and Horizon due to a software update that affected it weight and balance system around 7.50am local time. The grounding has reportedly chipped away at shares of Alaska Air Group, which owns the airlines.

The company was last up 2.2% at 3.13pm local time. The order was soon lifted about 30 minutes later, according to airline representatives who still didn’t provide a reason for the advisory.

People on X began asking the airline about why flights were being delayed, and at just before 5.20am they replied saying there was a system outage. FlyPDX showed 12 Alaska Airlines flights delayed. Travelers at multiple other airports, including SeaTac, posted pictures on social media of long lines at customer service and non-functioning ticketing kiosks.