Alaska Airlines operations resume after ground stop over IT outage

(The Hill) — Alaska Airlines said its operations have resumed Friday after it issued a temporary ground stoppage Thursday evening amid an IT outage.

The airline said in a statement that 229 flights were canceled because of the outage and that more flight disruptions were expected as it worked to “reposition aircraft and crews.”

The airline had announced the stoppage Thursday at 7:34 p.m. EDT on the social platform X, instructing travelers to check their flight status before heading to the airport. 

At 10 p.m., the airline said on X that it was “actively restoring our operations” following the outage. The Hill reached out to Alaska Airlines and to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for comment. 

Alaska Airlines said it is working on getting travelers affected by the disruption to their destinations.

The ground stoppage comes as air travel suffers amid the ongoing government shutdown. Airports around the country experienced a high number of delays over the weekend due to a shortage of air traffic controllers.

Air traffic controllers are working without pay during the shutdown. 

Last month, United Airlines issued a temporary ground stoppage due to a connectivity issue, impacting all of its flights in the U.S. and Canada. That same day, a technical issue impacted maintenance operations for American Airlines.

In August, United issued a ground stoppage at major U.S. airports amid a technology issue. As a result, over 1,000 flights were delayed. 

The Associated Press contributed.