Alaska Airlines grounded itself due to mysterious IT problem – Source: go.theregister.com

UPDATED US carrier Alaska Airlines has grounded its fleet due to an unspecified IT issue.

At the time of writing, the airline’s website includes a banner that reads: “We are experiencing issues with our IT systems. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to resolve the issues.”

The carrier is a little more verbose on social media, where it’s stated “Alaska Airlines is experiencing an IT outage affecting operations. A temporary ground stop is in place. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you’re scheduled to fly tonight, please check your flight status before heading to the airport.”

The airline lists 325 aircraft in its fleet. At the time of writing, plane-tracking site FlightAware reports just eleven Alaska Airlines flights in the air.

The IT incident is clearly one reason for that number, but it’s also worth noting that late hour in the US markets the airline serves: At the time of writing it is 11:00PM on the West Coast, and 02:00 AM on the East Coast. Few customers want to fly late at night, or overnight, so airlines fly fewer domestic flights at those times.

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The airline has said nothing about the nature of the incident, but the Scattered Spider ransomware gang is an obvious suspect as in recent weeks it has targeted airlines, perhaps even the Alaska-Airlines-owned Hawaiian Airlines which experienced a cybersecurity incident in late June.

Attackers have also clipped the wings of Australian airline Qantas and Air Serbia in recent weeks.

This is a developing story and The Register will update it as more information becomes available. ®

UPDATED AT 07:25 UTC July 21st

Alaska Airlines has fixed its problems.

A recent Tweet states

“At approximately 8 p.m. Pacific on July 20, we experienced an IT outage that resulted in a temporary, system-wide ground stop for Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air flights.”

“As of 11 p.m. Pacific, the ground stop has been lifted, and our operations have resumed.”

The carrier didn’t explain what happened but warned “As we reposition our aircraft and crews, there will most likely be residual impacts to our flights. It will take some time to get our overall operations back to normal.”

This update added the information above and changed headlines and subheads to reflect the airline’s resumption of operations.