The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a ground stop advisory for Alaska Airlines and Horizon Airlines. Both airlines operate under the Alaska Air Group (ALK: NYSE).
In an earlier statement, the FAA said the carrier 'asked the FAA to pause mainline departures for the airline,' meaning that all departures operated by both airlines were delayed for approximately one hour until the FAA lifted its order. The issue, according to CNBC, was related to a software update error on the system that calculates the weight and balance of Alaska Airlines planes. T
he airline responded in a later statement, 'This morning, we experienced an issue while performing an upgrade to the system that calculates our weight and balance. Residual flight delays are expected throughout the day,'
the airline said. This delay did not affect Alaska Air Group's regional airline SkyWest, which according to the FAA, was excluded from the Ground Stop Order.