Honolulu Flights Run Normally As Alaska Airlines Grounds Fleet

Alaska Airlines temporarily grounded its mainline fleet Thursday evening after an information-technology outage, snarling schedules across the mainland. In Honolulu, Hawaiian Airlines — part of the Alaska Air Group — said flights to and from the islands were operating on schedule, leaving most local travelers unaffected.

What happened

Alaska posted on social media that a temporary ground stop was in place while its IT team worked to resolve the systems issue. The Federal Aviation Administration advisory showed the request applied to Alaska and its regional partner Horizon Air and in some markets lasted roughly one to three hours before the carrier began restoring operations, according to Reuters.

Hawaiian flights stayed on schedule

Hawaiian Airlines told local officials and customers that its Hawaii routes were not affected and were operating normally during the disruption. That confirmation was reported by Hawaii News Now, and the carrier remains part of Alaska Air Group following last year’s combination, per an Alaska Air Group release.

Travelers on the mainland were hit hard

Passengers across the U.S. reported cancellations, long waits and problems accessing Alaska’s website and mobile app as flights stalled. The airline said it was offering a flexible rebooking policy for tickets purchased through Thursday with travel windows into Monday and urged travelers to check flight status before going to the airport, according to Business Insider and AP.

This follows a July outage

This outage is the second major technical disruption for Alaska in recent months; the carrier briefly grounded flights in July after a hardware failure at a data center that took roughly three hours to resolve. Industry coverage has noted the repeat outages have pressured operations and factored into Alaska Air Group’s recent financial outlook, according to Reuters.

What Honolulu travelers should know

For people flying to or from Honolulu, the immediate impact appears limited — Hawaiian said local schedules were normal — but anyone booked on Alaska or Horizon should check their booking and expect residual delays as crews and aircraft are repositioned. If you’re affected, contact your carrier for rebooking or refunds and monitor airline status pages and airport alerts, as outlets recommend, per Business Insider.