Late Sunday evening, Alaska Airlines was forced to ground its entire fleet—encompassing both Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air-operated aircraft—due to a widespread IT systems failure that began around 8 p.m. Pacific Time (11 p.m. Eastern). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that a system‑wide ground stop was implemented, affecting all 325 aircraft: 238 Boeing 737s and 87 Embraer 175s.
According to the airline, normal flight operations resumed late that night. The ground stop was officially lifted by 11 p.m. Pacific, and flights slowly began departing again. However, Alaska Airlines warned of “residual impacts” on its network as crews and equipment had to be repositioned.
The airline neither specified the cause of the outage nor indicated whether it stemmed from a system malfunction, cyberattack, or scheduled update gone awry. This marks the second major fleet-wide grounding in just over a year—the previous incident taking place in April 2024, when the airline halted flights system‑wide due to weight-and-balance software issues.
Thousands of passengers were affected across the United States. Airports such as Seattle-Tacoma, San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Charlotte, Denver, and others saw significant delays and stranded travelers.
Inside terminals and on planes, there was widespread frustration. Passengers took to social media describing hours-long waits, packed gates, and stagnant air in cabins. At least one traveler joked about receiving “emotional support cookies” during a three-hour tarmac delay. Reports from Portland and Los Angeles detailed passengers being trapped onboard even after planes parked at gates.
Alaska Airlines issued apologies and offered vouchers for meals and accommodations. Travelers were advised to keep receipts for reimbursement, and some were rebooked on flights the following day. The FAA emphasized that while the outage did not pose a safety risk, it significantly disrupted operations.
This event follows a June disruption of IT systems at Hawaiian Airlines, a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group – thought to be caused by a cybersecurity breach, although the extent of the financial damage is still being evaluated. Industry experts have cautioned that groups like “Scattered Spider” are increasingly targeting aviation software, making the sector more vulnerable.
In January 2024, Alaska Airlines also faced a major safety crisis when a door plug blew off a Boeing 737 MAX 9 mid-flight, prompting inspections and a grounding order until it could comply with FAA mandates.
Travelers are urged to verify their flight status before heading to the airport, as the airline continues addressing the cascading effects from missed connections, crew and aircraft shortages, and capacity rebalancing.
