Alaska Airlines grounds all flights nationwide due to tech outage

All Alaska Airlines flights were suspended Thursday evening due to a technical failure.

The airline said in a statement provided to CBS News that it had experienced “a computer outage affecting its operations” and had “conducted a temporary ground stop.” He did not specify the nature of the failure.

In a follow-up social media post around 10 p.m. Eastern Time, the airline indicated that its systems could be back online, writing that it was “actively restoring our operations following an IT outage.”

However, shortly before 11:30 p.m., the airline posted on social media that the outage was still ongoing, saying it had “resulted in the cancellation of some of our flights this evening and tomorrow.” The exact number of flights affected was unclear.

Ground stops are issued by the Federal Aviation Administration, often at the request of airlines.

Alaska Airlines also operates Hawaiian Airlines and Horizon Air. According to the FAA notice, the ground stop included Horizon Air. CBS News has contacted the FAA for comment.

According to flight tracking website FlightAware, as of Thursday evening, at least 39 Alaska Airlines flights had been canceled and 241 delayed.

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

Air travel in the United States has experienced some strain due to the government shutdown that began in early October. with a shortage of air traffic controllers causing flight delays at several airports.