IT outage grounds all Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air flights

Alaska Airlines and its subsidiary Horizon Air grounded all flights on Sunday night due to an information technology outage, the company said Monday. The ground stop order lasted from about 11 p.m. Eastern time to 2 a.m. on Monday. The outage affected the airline’s entire system. Alaska Airlines on Monday apologized to passengers and said it would likely take some time for flights to resume as normal. The company did not detail how the IT issue occurred or the nature of the problem.

Alaska Airlines’ partner, Hawaiian Airlines, experienced some IT issues in June due to a cybersecurity breach, it said.

What other flight mishaps have recently occurred? A Delta flight operated by SkyWest on Friday nearly collided with a B-52 bomber aircraft near Minot, S.D., local news reported. Air traffic controllers at Minot International Airport cleared SkyWest Flight 3788 for approach, but told the pilot to turn in the direction of the rapidly approaching military jet, according to local news.

The pilot turned and climbed sharply to avoid the B-52, he said in a video posted to social media. The air traffic controller also directed him to turn again just after the maneuver. The tower didn’t have radar and controlled flights visually, the pilot said in the video. Minot Air Force Base operates 26 B-52H bombers, according to local news. 

SkyWest was investigating the incident, according to a company statement shared with WORLD. The flight performed a go-around procedure when another aircraft appeared in its path, according to the statement. The plane landed safely, SkyWest said.

Dig deeper: Read my report on daredevil athlete Felix Baumgartner’s paragliding death.