Alaska Airlines flights, including those out of San Francisco International Airport, were grounded nationwide for one hour on Wednesday after the carrier experienced a technical issue during a system upgrade.
Alaska Airlines flights resumed out of San Francisco International Airport Wednesday after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted a ground stop that temporarily halted the carrier’s flights across the United States earlier that morning.
Company officials said they requested a ground stop at 7:30 a.m. due to a technical issue which took all Alaska flights and flights for subregional carrier Horizon Air temporarily out of service. The issue was resolved roughly an hour later and the ground stop expired just after 8:30 a.m.
In a statement, an Alaska Airlines spokesperson said, “This morning, we experienced an issue while performing an upgrade to the system that calculates our weight and balance.”
The company said it made its ground-stop request “out of an abundance of caution.”
Though flights have begun getting released, Alaska expects residual delays throughout the rest of the day.
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“We apologize for the inconvenience,” an Alaska Airlines spokesperson said. Customers were advised to check their flight status on the company’s website or through its mobile app before heading to the airport.
“Apart from the five delayed Alaska flights, the only other impact was other carriers having to use a different gate for their own flight,” SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel told The Examiner.