Alaska Airlines' Operations Halted For Three Hours Sunday Night Due to IT Problem, Impacts Continue

Alaska Airlines experienced a significant IT outage on Sunday evening, prompting a three-hour ground stop that affected all its flights. The disruption began at 8 pm, and while the ground stop was lifted by 11 pm, the airline warned of ongoing operational impacts. A total of 150 flights were canceled, with 74 cancellations occurring on the following Monday, along with 161 delayed flights. The outage stemmed from a failure of a critical hardware component produced by a third-party vendor, which affected key operational systems. Alaska Airlines emphasized that flight safety was never compromised and clarified that this issue was unrelated to a cyberattack that previously affected several airlines.

This incident adds to Alaska's recent history of technology-related disruptions, including a temporary ground stop in September and another in April 2024. The airline industry has faced numerous challenges in recent years, with high-profile incidents affecting operations. The Southwest Airlines meltdown in December 2022 serves as a stark reminder of the potential fallout from operational failures, costing the airline hundreds of millions.