On the night of July 20, 2025, from approximately 11 p.m. ET to 2 a.m., Alaska Airlines experienced a major IT outage that triggered a temporary, system-wide ground stop affecting both Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air flights. The disruption led to a complete halt in operations for about three hours, stranding thousands of passengers and sparking widespread confusion and frustration across airports. Travelers were left uncertain about next steps as the airline scrambled to restore normal operations amid the unexpected technical failure.
Later on, a Seattle-based airline said, “The ground stop has lifted, and our operations have resumed, and as we reposition our aircraft and crews, there will most likely be residual impacts to our flights.” Whereas officials of the Airline shared that “ it will take them some time to restart their overall operations back to normal”, and have asked the travelers to check their flight status before leaving for the airport.
However, the reason for the IT outage is still unclear, but the FAA said in a statement that there has been no impact on safety, and the Airline has continued to operate safely, and that they have been monitoring the situation very closely.
Coincidentally, the IT outage has occurred during a time when tech companies like Google and Palo Alto Networks have warned of the “Scattered Spider,” a hacking group who are interested in the aviation sector.
Similarly, in June 2025, just last month, Hawaiian Airlines faced a similar issue, but it did not cause a halt to the operations. Hawaiian Airlines suffered a cybersecurity breach, which was suspected to be a ransom ware attack that affected the reservations and internal systems. The only concern that was raised from this incident was related to data exposure, which included personal and financial information. However, the Airline was able to tackle this breach with the help of authorities and cybersecurity experts, which finally restored their system.
Another likewise situation developed with IndiGo Airlines in July 2024, where 200 flights were cancelled and grounded, and check-in systems were down across major Indian airports. This massive disruption was caused due to a global Microsoft Azure outage, which was triggered by a faulty update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. Nevertheless, the Airline was able to restart its operations with manual backups, though passengers faced long delays and limited rebooking options.
So the question arises, what are the aviation industries doing to avoid such outages that are causing the public to suffer? When air travel has already become an important means for many, why can't such faults be recognized before? And why, the aviation industry is not able to eradicate such issues?
