Seattle: Alaska Airlines grounded all of its flights on Sunday evening after suffering a widespread IT outage that disrupted its operational systems, the airline said. The disruption marks the second time in just over a year that the Seattle-based carrier has been forced to halt operations.
“At approximately 8 p.m. Pacific on Sunday (0300 GMT Monday), Alaska Airlines experienced an IT outage that’s impacting our operations,” the airline said in a statement.
While the airline did not specify the nature of the outage, it warned that residual delays were likely throughout the evening. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that all destinations were affected by the ground stop of Alaska’s mainline aircraft and Horizon Air’s operations.
Alaska Airlines has resolved its earlier IT outage and has resumed operations. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and encourage guests to check your flight status before heading to the airport.
— Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) July 21, 2025
In April 2024, Alaska Airlines grounded its entire fleet over a technical issue related to aircraft weight and balance calculations. That incident followed a separate high-profile event involving a door panel detaching midair from a Boeing 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska.
The latest outage comes amid growing cybersecurity concerns in the aviation sector. Tech firms such as Google and Palo Alto Networks have recently flagged the hacking group ‘Scattered Spider’ as a potential threat to airlines.
Microsoft also reported ongoing active attacks on its server software on Sunday, though no connection to Alaska’s outage has been confirmed.
— Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) July 21, 2025
Alaska Air Group, which operates a fleet of 238 Boeing 737s and 87 Embraer 175s, has not indicated whether Sunday’s issue is cyber-related. The airline did not respond to requests for comment about a possible link to Microsoft’s alert. Passengers are advised to monitor flight updates as efforts continue to restore normal operations.
