SEATTLE – A computer problem caused significant delays Monday morning for all Alaska Airlines flights, according to company officials.
The airline apologized and asked passengers for patience as long lines formed at the Seattle airport where Alaska Airlines is the largest carrier.
Alaska Airlines President and CEO Brad Tilden says there might be a partial solution by noon Pacific time to computer problems that have caused system-wide flight delays for his carrier.
Tilden said Monday he hopes for a full resolution by 5 p.m. and that "we're doing everything we can to get back on track."
Tilden says the computer problem stems from a data outage in the Midwest.
He spoke at Sea-Tac Airport during an unrelated announcement with Delta Air Lines about a new route.
The technical problem left the airline unable to check in passengers starting at about 7:40 a.m., said Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan. The airline planned to start manually checking in passengers, according to an announcement at the SeaTac terminal about 9 a.m.
The delays affected flights throughout the carrier's system, Egan said.
The problem was with a data connection and technicians were working to fix it as quickly as possible, Egan said.
The Seattle-based Alaska Airlines is the seventh-largest U.S. airline based on passenger traffic and is the dominant U.S. West Coast air carrier. It has an average of 436 flights a day at 64 destinations.
Alaska and its sister carrier, Horizon Air, are owned by Alaska Air Group.
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