Southwest Airlines grounds all US flights as airline suffers from nationwide computer software outage

Recent nationwide computer outages led the Federal Aviation Administration to halt Southwest Airlines’ operations.

The airline experienced two technical issues this week, both under investigation. On Monday, Southwest flights suffered disconnectivity with a third-party weather data provider. Technical issues on Tuesday were defined by the airline as “intermittent performance issues.” The FAA attributed their decision to ground Southwest flights to a “reservation computer issue.” Currently, the two incidents are believed to be unrelated.

According to the tracking site, Flight Aware, Southwest was forced to cancel over 500 flights and grounded multiple on Tuesday. New issues led 401 flights to be canceled and 1,630 delayed on Wednesday. Hundreds of travelers were backed up at airports across the country, adding to already busy operations. Airlines have experienced a surge in travelers following lifted COVID-19 restrictions and the distribution of vaccines. 

In a statement, a spokesperson for the airline said, “While our technology issues from Tuesday have been resolved, we are still experiencing a small number of cancelations and delays across our network as we continue working to resume normal operations.”

ARTICLE: ANTOINETTE AHO
MANAGING EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE
PHOTO CREDITS: FORTUNE