Alaska Airlines resumes flights after nationwide ground stop due to tech outage

Alaska Airlines says it has resumed flights after a nationwide ground stop due to a tech outage, but disruptions continued into Friday.

The Seattle-based carrier, which also operates Horizon Air and Hawaiian Airlines, said in a social media post at 3:24 a.m. ET Friday that operations had been restored “after a significant IT outage resulted in a system-wide ground stop of flights for Alaska and Horizon.”

The ground stop was lifted at 11:30 p.m. Thursday night Pacific time, the airline said, adding that it was “working to get our operations back on track as quickly and safely as possible.”

From Thursday into Friday afternoon, the airline said more than 400 flights had been canceled on Alaska and Horizon as it repositioned aircraft and crews. It added that there had been no disruptions on Hawaiian Airlines flights.

“Over the two days, more than 49,000 passengers have had their travel plans disrupted,” the airline said. “We are deeply sorry for the disruptions this event has caused for so many of our valued guests. We’re working to get everyone to their destinations as quickly as we can.”

It encouraged travelers to check their flight status, and said a flexible travel policy was put in place to support customers while operations returned to normal.

In an earlier statement to CBS News, the carrier didn’t elaborate on the nature of the tech outage. 

Ground stops are issued by the Federal Aviation Administration, often at the request of airlines. CBS News has reached out to the FAA for comment.

Alaska Airlines, one of the largest U.S. carriers, is primarily centered on the West Coast, but services 140 destinations worldwide, including 37 states and 12 countries, according to its website.  

Air travel in the U.S. has experienced some stresses as a result of the government shutdown that started at the beginning of the October, with shortages of air traffic controllers causing flight delays at several airports.