Latest news with #flightgrounding
CBC
4 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Calgary travellers brace for disruptions as Air Canada cancellations begin
Air Canada plans to ground all flights by Saturday, with a flight attendant work stoppage expected to start Friday night. Among those affected is an Alberta dragon boat team of cancer survivors, now scrambling to make new travel plans ahead of a national competition.
Yahoo
07-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
United Airlines grounds flights nationwide over technology issue
United Airlines has grounded flights nationwide on Wednesday night due to an issue with its weight and balance computer system, according to the airline. "Due to a technology issue, we are holding United mainline flights at their departure airports," United said in a statement. "We expect additional flight delays this evening as we work through this issue. Safety is our top priority, and we'll work with our customers to get them to their destinations." The airline confirmed in a statement to ABC News that it is not a cyberattack. The ground stop does not affect United Express flights, and any flight that is already in the air will continue to its destination, according to the airline. Multiple FAA notices have stated that the airline has requested ground stops at major hubs, including Newark, San Francisco, Chicago, Denver and Houston. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
UAE Moments
31-07-2025
- UAE Moments
Why Did UK Airports Ground Flights?
A significant technical glitch at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) control centre in Swanwick, Hampshire, on Wednesday, July 30, caused the temporary closure of UK airspace, grounding flights across multiple major airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Stansted and London City. What Happened? Around 2:39 p.m. GMT, NATS experienced a radar-related failure that led to a precautionary restriction on aircraft movements in the London Control Area, covering most of England and Wales. Although the disruption lasted only about 20 minutes, the clearance delay triggered the grounding of all outbound flights and forced some inbound planes to hold or divert. Grounding and Resumption After the system was restored by around 4:30 pm, operations resumed gradually. However, thousands of passengers remained affected, with airport staff managing extensive cancellations, delays, and flight diversions. Heathrow, the busiest UK airport, saw flights resume within the hour but airlines warned disruption could last several more hours. Airline and Government Response British Airways reported operating at just two-thirds of its usual flight capacity at Heathrow until around 7:15 pm, after which it expected to return to normal operations. The UK Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, confirmed the technical issue was resolved but cautioned that travel disruption could continue, advising travelers to check with their airlines for updates. Passenger Impact Travel analytics firm Cirium estimated that at least 45 departures and 35 arrivals were canceled nationwide, and flights were either delayed or diverted to alternative airports. Some long-haul journeys were rerouted mid-air, and passengers reported being held on the tarmac for extended periods without clear updates. Calls for Accountability Ryanair demanded the resignation of NATS CEO Martin Rolfe, calling the incident 'outrageous' and highlighting a failure to learn lessons from a similar outage in 2023 that affected around 700,000 travelers. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats, led by Sir Ed Davey, called for an independent investigation to assess the resilience and reliability of UK air traffic control systems. This incident serves as a stark reminder of how dependent modern aviation is on digital infrastructure, and raises urgent questions about the reliability of NATS systems—especially given past failures during peak travel periods. This article was previously published on bahrainmoments. To see the original article, click here
Gizmodo
21-07-2025
- Business
- Gizmodo
Computer Glitch Grounds Every Alaska Airlines Flight
A computer outage forced Alaska Airlines and its subsidiary Horizon Air to ground all flights Sunday night, halting operations across the board. On Monday, the airline said that operations were coming back online. The airline requested a system-wide ground stop from federal aviation authorities at about 11 p.m. ET on Sunday night. That stop remained in effect until around 2 a.m. ET Monday, when the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed it had been lifted. But disruptions didn't end there. Alaska warned passengers to brace for likely delays throughout the day. 'We are currently experiencing an IT outage that's impacting our operations,' Alaska Airlines posted on X shortly after midnight on Monday. 'We requested a temporary, system-wide ground stop until the issue is resolved.' The FAA's website listed the stop as applying to all Alaska Airlines aircraft. The airline did not share details about the cause of the issue and did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Gizmodo. However, the company posted on X that passengers should check flight statuses before heading to the airport, as the outage could continue to disrupt travel. The company warned that as it repositioned its aircraft and crew, there would likely be 'residual impacts' to its flights. '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,' the company posted on X. Travelers took to social media to vent about long delays on the tarmac and in terminals, particularly at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. One said they endured five gate changes. CNN reported that some passengers were stuck on planes for hours. Alaska Airlines operates 238 Boeing aircraft, 87 Embraer planes, and 45 additional planes through Horizon Air. The Seattle-based company is the fifth-largest airline in the U.S., serving more than 44 million passengers annually. The incident comes almost exactly one year after a software update from the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike caused a global IT outage. The crash has become known as the largest IT outage in history. The July 2024 outage brought down an estimated 8.5 million Microsoft Windows systems running CrowdStrike's Falcon Sensor software, disrupting everything from hospitals and airports to broadcast networks. There's no word yet from Alaska on whether the outage ties into a broader software problem, but the timing, almost exactly a year after the CrowdStrike crash, isn't going unnoticed on social media, with users wondering if the events are related.
The Guardian
21-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Alaska Airlines grounds flights after IT outage
US carrier Alaska Airlines grounded its flights after an IT outage on Sunday that affected its systems, the company said, without specifying the nature of the outage, marking the second time it has grounded its fleet in just over a year. 'At approximately 8pm Pacific on Sunday (0300 GMT on Monday), Alaska Airlines experienced an IT outage that's impacting our operations,' the carrier said in a statement. 'We requested a temporary, system-wide ground stop for Alaska and Horizon Air flights.' The Seattle-based airline said there would be residual impacts to its operations throughout the evening, without providing more details. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The FAA status page showed all destinations affected by the ground stop of Alaska's mainline aircraft, and the suspension of Horizon's operations. In April 2024, Alaska grounded its entire fleet due to an issue with the system that calculates the weight and balance of its planes, just a few months after a door panel on an Alaska Airlines-operated Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet blew off midair. Alaska Air Group maintains an operational fleet of 238 Boeing 737 aircraft, and 87 Embraer 175 aircraft, according to its website. In June, Alaska Air Group-owned Hawaiian Airlines said some of its IT systems were disrupted by a hack. Alaska Air Group said it was still determining the financial impact of that event. The news of Alaska's IT issues comes at a time when tech companies Google and Palo Alto Networks have warned of the 'Scattered Spider' hacking group's interest in the aviation sector. Canada's WestJet Airlines was struck by an unspecified cyber incident in June, while Australia's Qantas experienced a data breach in July where a cyber hacker accessed the personal information of millions of customers. It remains unclear whether Alaska's outage is related to Microsoft stating on Sunday that there were 'active attacks' on its server software used by government agencies and businesses. Alaska did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment on whether the outage was related to the Microsoft announcement.
