Alaska Airlines grounds flights nationwide following major IT outage

Alaska Airlines temporarily grounded all flights across the United States on Thursday following a major technical issue.

In a statement, the carrier said it was “experiencing an IT outage affecting operations” and had issued “a temporary ground stop.” The airline did not specify how long the disruption would last or how many flights were impacted but said teams were “actively restoring our operations.”

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the outage also affected Horizon Air, a regional carrier operated by Alaska Airlines.

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines, part of the Alaska Air Group, primarily serves the US West Coast and operates flights to 140 destinations in 37 US states and 12 countries, according to its website.

Hawaiian Airlines, which merged with Alaska Airlines last year, was not impacted by Thursday’s disruption.

This marks the second major IT failure for the carrier in 2025 — a similar outage in July grounded flights for roughly three hours.

Alaska Airlines did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.

The outage comes amid broader disruptions to US air travel following a government shutdown earlier this month, which has led to staffing shortages among air traffic controllers and flight delays nationwide.