New York (AFP)

Southwest Airlines temporarily grounded all of its planes in the United States on Tuesday due to an IT problem, less than 24 hours after having already had to suspend all of its domestic flights due to another IT problem at a sub -treating.

At the request of the company itself, the US agency overseeing the air transport (FAA) immobilized all Southwest aircraft for 45 minutes, between 1:45 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. local time, officially for a "computer problem with the reservation system" .

In a separate statement, the low-cost carrier, one of the largest in the world, soon after said it was "resuming normal operations after a brief hiatus in flight activities."

The latter was caused "by intermittent performance issues with our network connectivity," Southwest said without giving further details.

In total, some 500 flights have been canceled, a spokesperson said.

"The teams are working quickly to minimize disruption to flights and the impact on customers," said the company, praising the "patience" of passengers and ensuring that it was working hard to "get them to their destination".

Monday evening, the air carrier had already had to delay more than 1,500 flights in the country, according to the specialized site Flight Aware.

This time Southwest had called into question a technical problem with a subcontractor providing it with the meteorological data necessary for the operation of its devices.

"We have nailed all the planes to the ground in order to protect the safety of our crews and our customers," the company said in a statement.

- Resumption of traffic -

As computer attacks have escalated in recent weeks against U.S. companies, often accompanied by ransom demands, a Southwest spokesperson stressed on Tuesday that there was "currently no indication that either 'other event was related to a cyber threat ".

It is not uncommon for an airline to have to delay or suspend flights due to technical issues with the computer system.

The concomitance of the two events at such close intervals at Southwest is more exceptional.

These disturbances come as air traffic regains strength in the United States thanks to vaccination campaigns against Covid-19 and the lifting of restrictions that encourage Americans to travel again.

According to data released by the Transportation Security Agency (TSA), more than two million passengers have frequented the country's airports on Friday and Sunday, a level more seen since March 2020.

Based in Dallas in the south of the country, Southwest, which this month celebrates the 50th anniversary of its first flight, had only 54 million passengers on board in 2020 compared to around 134 million in 2019. At the peak of the tourist season this year- there the company operated more than 4,000 flights per day.

After losing $ 3.1 billion last year, however, the company managed to straighten its finances in the first quarter and, supported by government aid, turned a profit.

A sign that it anticipates a resumption of air traffic, the company placed with Boeing in March a generous order for 737s, the only aircraft in its fleet since its creation.

© 2021 AFP