Alaska Airlines Flights Resume: Aircraft System Issue Resolved
On Wednesday morning, Alaska Airlines encountered an issue with the system responsible for calculating the weight and balance of its aircraft, prompting the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to implement a ground stop on all of its flights. This ground stop, affecting departures for both Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, a regional carrier under Alaska Air Group, commenced at approximately 7:50 am PT (1450 GMT) and lasted for about an hour.
The airline attributed the disruption to an upgrade malfunction within the weight and balance calculation system. While the issue has been resolved, residual flight delays are expected throughout the day as operations return to normalcy.
In response, the FAA confirmed that Alaska Airlines had requested a nationwide pause on its mainline departures. This temporary halt in operations caused shares of Alaska Air Group, the airline’s parent company, to fluctuate, although they eventually stabilized with a 2.6% increase as of 11:51 ET (1551 GMT).
Acknowledging passenger concerns expressed on social media platforms, Alaska Airlines assured travelers that efforts were underway to resume flights as swiftly as possible. Meanwhile, the FAA clarified that flights operated by SkyWest, a regional service provider for Alaska Airlines and other carriers, were exempt from the ground stop.
While the disruption caused passengers to be inconvenienced and fluctuated stock prices, the prompt resolution of the system issue and the exclusion of certain regional services from the ground stop helped alleviate some of the incident’s broader impacts.
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