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- Alaska Airlines said it has restored operations after an IT outage that grounded all flights nationwide on Thursday.
- The ground stop also covered its regional arm, Horizon Air.
- It's the airline's second major IT outage this year — it also grounded flights in July for that reason.
Alaska Airlineshas restored operations after grounding all flights across the US on Thursday evening due to a tech outage — its second major IT failure this year.
The airline said in a post on X early Friday that it has implemented a "systemwide ground stop of flights" for Alaska and its subsidiary, Horizon Air.
The ground stop was lifted at 11.30 pm, the airline said.
The airline told Business Insider earlier that the outage began about 3.30 pm on Thursday, following a failure at its primary data center.
More than 229 flights were canceled as a result of the outage, Alaska said in the X post.
"Additional flight disruptions are likely as we reposition aircraft and crews throughout our network," it added. "We are working to get our operations back on track as quickly and safely as possible."
The airline advised customers to check their flight status before heading to the airport if they're scheduled to fly.
The airline said in a statement to Business Insider that "the IT outage has impacted several of our key systems that enable us to run various operations, necessitating the implementation of the ground stop to keep our aircraft in position," adding that flight safety was not compromised.
The company also said the issue did not affect Hawaiian Airlines flights, and that the outage was not due to a cybersecurity incident.
At press time, a notice on the airline's website said it's offering a "flexible" travel policy for customers who want to change or cancel their flights due to the outage.
It applies to tickets purchased on or before Thursday with original travel dates from Thursday to Friday. Travelers can rebook for new flights between Thursday and Monday.
Alaska Airlines' primary hub is on the West Coast, and it serves more than 140 destinations across 37 states and 12 countries. Its parent company, Alaska Air Group, employs over 30,000 people.
Customers took to social media to report issues accessing the airline's website and mobile app.
"Unfortunately, we are experiencing an error on our system, but our IT team is working to get this resolved as soon as possible," Alaska Airlines said in response to an X user who said she experienced issues with the airline's app.
The outage comes just as Alaska Air reported quarterly earnings this week, showing that aprevious IT meltdown in Julyhad hurt its results.
In its third-quarter report released Thursday, Alaska Air said higher fuel and non-fuel cost pressure resulting from an IT outage in July forced it to lower its full-year profit outlook.
The carrier reported adjusted earnings of $1.05 per share for the quarter, missing analysts' average estimate of $1.13 apiece.
