Alaska Airlines Restores Operations After Brief Grounding Due to IT Outage
Alaska Airlines has resumed normal flight operations after a temporary IT outage led to a complete system-wide ground stop late Sunday, affecting both Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air flights. The outage marked the second fleet-wide disruption for the carrier in just over a year.
The Seattle-based airline said it requested the ground stop at approximately 8 p.m. Pacific Time (0300 GMT) and lifted it by 11 p.m. Pacific, with systems stabilised. However, residual delays are expected across its network as crews and aircraft are repositioned.
“It will take some time to get our overall operations back to normal,” the company stated.
Details on the IT Outage Still Unclear
While Alaska Airlines did not immediately disclose the exact nature of the IT outage, the incident has prompted concerns amid a rising wave of cybersecurity threats targeting the aviation industry.
This is not the first time Alaska Airlines has faced technical difficulties. In April 2024, the airline grounded its entire fleet due to issues with its weight and balance system, which is critical for flight safety.
Alaska Air Group operates:
- 238 Boeing 737 aircraft
- 87 Embraer 175 regional jets
Growing Cybersecurity Risks in Aviation
The outage comes just weeks after Hawaiian Airlines, also owned by Alaska Air Group, reported disruptions due to a cyberattack. The company is still assessing the financial impact of that incident.
Concerns about aviation cybersecurity have intensified, with tech firms Google and Palo Alto Networks warning about increased activity from the “Scattered Spider” hacking group, which has shown interest in targeting the aviation sector.
Other notable recent incidents include:
- WestJet Airlines (Canada): Cyber incident in June
- Qantas (Australia): Data breach in July compromising millions of customer records
- Microsoft: Reported active attacks on its server software used by government agencies and businesses
While Microsoft’s alert may be unrelated, Alaska Airlines has not confirmed or denied any connection between its outage and the recent server vulnerabilities.
Conclusion
The temporary grounding of Alaska Airlines flights highlights the increasing dependency on digital infrastructure in the aviation industry and the rising cybersecurity risks that come with it. While operations have resumed, the incident adds to a growing list of tech-related disruptions faced by global airlines in 2025.
