Alaska Airlines halts flights: what triggered it and why it matters for the industry

Alaska Airlines abruptly grounded its entire fleet of aircraft on Thursday, citing a major, system-wide information technology outage.

The move has caused widespread disruption and is the latest in a string of similar technology meltdowns that have plagued the airline industry, raising serious questions about the fragility of the complex systems that underpin modern air travel.

So what happened, and why does this keep happening?

What caused the disruption at Alaska Airlines?

In a post on the social media platform X, the airline announced it had imposed a “temporary ground stop” due to an unspecified “IT outage affecting operations.” 

The company has advised all passengers scheduled to travel on the night of October 24 to check their flight status before heading to the airport.

The grounding affects both the mainline Alaska Air and its regional partner, Horizon Air, though its recently acquired sister airline, Hawaiian Airlines, is reportedly operating as scheduled.

This is the second time this year that a tech failure has forced Alaska Airlines to halt its operations. In July, a hardware failure at a data centre grounded its flights for approximately three hours.

Is this part of a bigger problem in the airline industry?

The airline industry has been hit by a recurring and deeply troubling series of IT-related disruptions. While most are temporary, they highlight a systemic vulnerability that can paralyse a major carrier with little to no warning.

The Alaska Airlines incident is just the latest example. Just a few days ago, on October 19, Air India had to schedule a special flight to bring back 256 stranded passengers from Milan after a “technical issue” canceled their original flight.

And in August of this year, United Airlines was forced into a temporary ground stop at multiple major US hubs, including Newark and Chicago, after its own technology glitch caused widespread network delays.

What happens next?

For now, a major US airline is once again dealing with the fallout of a paralysed network. The immediate focus will be on resolving the IT issue and getting its fleet back in the air safely.

But the incident will undoubtedly lead to another round of scrutiny from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the flying public.

As airlines become more and more reliant on complex, interconnected digital systems, the risk of these cascading failures remains a clear and present danger for the millions of travellers who depend on them every day.

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