(NewsNation) — SkyWest Airlines, a partner of multiple major U.S. airlines, was forced to ground all of its planes at the beginning of the busy Labor Day travel weekend.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop Friday night, though it wasn’t immediately clear what caused the issue. The ground stop was lifted shortly after being issued but it still angered flyers.
“SkyWest which operates my Delta flight from SLC to Tulsa lost network access so my flight was delayed,” one traveler wrote on X. “There’s been a lot of airline network access loss this year.”
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SkyWest Airlines has 500 planes that travel to 268 destinations in North America, according to its website. It’s a partner of United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. The airline served more than 42 million passengers in 2024.
“SkyWest experienced a brief technology issue this evening that has since been resolved,” the company told NewsNation in a statement. “All systems have been restored and we are working to mitigate any delays as we resume normal operations.”
Before the outage, the Transportation Safety Administration said it was bracing for record-breaking travel and what could end up being the busiest Labor Day in 15 years.
SkyWest passengers injured by severe turbulence
The ground stop came a day after two flyers were rushed to a hospital after being injured by turbulence on a SkyWest flight.
The plane was headed from Aspen, Colorado, to Houston when it suddenly dropped 4,000 feet in just 60 seconds, CNN reported.
“We’re going to need a stretcher, and there is bleeding as well. SkyWest 5971,” a pilot was heard saying on air traffic control audio by LiveATC.net.
The plane was diverted to Austin and the injured passengers were taken to a hospital with injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening, the airline said.
