Due to a technical issue, all of Southwest Airlines’ aircraft were temporarily grounded, causing thousands of flights to be delayed throughout the Country.
Around 5,400 flights into or out of the US were delayed or cancelled on Tuesday, according to flight monitoring firm Flight Aware, according to the BBC.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed the incident, stating that “Southwest Airlines had a technical issue with one of their internal systems,” and that at the airline’s request, all departures had been halted until the Dallas-based carrier fixed the problem.
The FAA said that the suspension of service had been removed and that it had resumed. The low-cost airline said on social media after services had resumed later on Tuesday that it was “working to restore operations and accommodate interrupted clients as swiftly as possible.”
When “staff shortages” over the Christmas holiday season of the previous year resulted in 16,700 flight cancellations and interfered with two million passengers’ travel plans, Southwest Airlines came under criticism.
The US Department of Transportation said at the time that it will look into any “unfair and deceptive” actions that may have affected consumers.