Alaska Airlines, one of the leading airlines in the United States, has resumed its flight operations after halting them due to an IT failure at its main data centre.
The nationwide outage, which affected thousands of passengers across the U.S., began around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday following a malfunction at Alaska Airlines’ primary data centre. The company stated that the issue was not caused by a cyberattack and was limited to technical reasons.
The disruption also impacted flights operated by Alaska Airlines’ subsidiary, Horizon Air. In a statement released later in the evening, the airline announced that a temporary ground stop had been implemented, flights had been cancelled, and passengers were advised to check their flight status before heading to the airport.
In its official statement, Alaska Airlines said: “We experienced a temporary IT outage that affected our operations. Our teams are working diligently to resolve the issue. We sincerely apologise to all our guests for the inconvenience caused.”
According to an update from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) at 9:27 p.m., flights operated by Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air to all destinations were temporarily halted, while certain SkyWest Airlines flights continued. Once the issue was resolved, flight operations began to resume gradually.
Passenger Reactions on Social Media
Due to the IT outage, hundreds of passengers took to the social media platform X (Twitter) to share their experiences of delays and waiting periods. Travellers stranded on planes in cities such as Seattle, Tucson, Austin, and New Orleans expressed their frustration about the situation.
A Similar Outage Occurred Previously
In July of this year, Alaska Airlines also had to suspend its flight operations for three hours due to a similar IT disruption. At that time, the travel plans of approximately 15,600 passengers were affected.
As the fifth-largest airline in the United States, Alaska Airlines operates flights to 120 destinations in five countries and serves more than 44 million passengers annually. The company continues its efforts to strengthen its digital infrastructure to enhance operational efficiency and prevent similar technical disruptions in the future.
