FAA lifts nationwide ground stop for Southwest Airlines flights after equipment issues, delays linger
The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday morning lifted a nationwide ground stop for Southwest Airlines flights after earlier issuing the order, citing "equipment issues."
There is still a hold on flights into Dallas Love Field Airport, the FAA says. There still may be other residual flight delays as a result of the pause.
"Southwest Airlines requested the FAA pause the airline's departures," the agency told CNN in a statement.
This morning @SouthwestAir experienced a technical issue with one of their internal systems.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) April 18, 2023
At the airline’s request, the FAA paused Southwest’s departures as they resolved the issue.
The pause has been lifted and their service has resumed.
Southwest reported technology issues Tuesday morning and said it would "hopefully be resuming our operation as soon as possible."
The flight tracking website FlightAware said nearly 2,500 of the airline's flights -- about 30% of its schedule -- were delayed Tuesday, far ahead of any US carrier.
Almost all Southwest flights departing from Sacramento International Airport on Tuesday morning are showing as delayed.
Southwest called the problem "intermittent technology issues" in a social media post to customers. Several have taken to social media to complain about delayed flights.
"We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we're hoping to get everyone going ASAP," the airline wrote in another social media post.
CNN has reached out to Southwest and the Federal Aviation Administration for further comment.