Alaska Airlines has requested a ground stop for all mainline aircraft and Horizon Air flights across the United States.
The US Federal Aviation Administration updated its status page on Sunday with the extraordinary request.
It is understood that the request came though at 10.50pm EST and was due to last until midnight, but was extended at the last minute until at least 12.30am, with a moderate chance that it could be continued once again.
The initial request was only for mainline Alaska Airlines carriers, but the extention included a secondary request to ground all Horizon Air flights, as well.
The reason for the request was not immediately clear.
The ground stop does not impact flights that are already in the air, but it does prevent any flights scheduled to take off within that window from doing so, sparking potential travel chaos with delays and queues.
Alaska Airlines operates at least 238 planes, all Boeings.
The FAA and the airline did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Alaska Airlines has requested a ground stop for all mainline aircraft across the United States
The FAA status page showed all destinations being impacted by the ground stop of Alaska’s mainline aircraft.
It comes weeks after a damning report revealed that major errors by Boeing led to a door plug flying off an Alaska Airlines 737 Max mid flight, putting the lives of 175 passengers and crew at risk.
The National Transportation Safety Board said a flawed manufacturing process within Boeing and insufficient regulatory oversight caused the near catastrophic disaster.
‘An accident like this only happens when there are multiple system failures,’ NTSB chairman Jennifer Homendy said.
The NTSB has been investigating what went so wrong just six minutes into the January 2024 flight from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California.
The ground stop does not impact flights that are already in the air, but it does prevent any flights scheduled to take off within that window from doing so, sparking potential travel chaos with delays and queues
The US Federal Aviation Administration updated its status page on Sunday with the extraordinary request
The initial probe found four key bolts that were meant to hold the door plug in place were were missing from the aircraft.
It has since been established the door left Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington without those crucial bolts.
Just one of those bolts, if properly secured, would have held the door panel in place, and the other three were supposed to be used as an additional safety mechanism.
No fault was found with Alaska Airlines crew qualifications or preflight inspections.
The heroic actions of the crew of Alaska Airlines flight 1282 ensured everyone survived, Homendy found.
This is a breaking news story. More to come.
