Southwest Airlines resumes operations after briefly halting takeoffs due to a ‘technical issue’

Southwest Airlines is resuming operations after the airline briefly paused departures due to a “technical issue” earlier this morning, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Although operations have resumed, there may be flight delays as a result of the pause.

“This morning SouthwestAir experienced a technical issue with one of their internal systems,” the FAA said in a tweet. “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.”

FlightAware indicates that nearly 2,500 of the Southwest’s flights on Tuesday morning, which represents about 30% of its schedule for the day, were delayed.

The latest disruption comes months after Southwest cancelled more than 16,700 flights in December due to changes to its staff scheduling computer systems. The issues cost Southwest more than $1 billion and frustrated thousands of travelers during the busy holiday travel season. The Department of Transportation opened an investigation into the airline in response to the widespread disruption. At the time, the airline said it had taken steps to prevent another widespread disruption.

Southwest conducted a review with aviation consulting firm Oliver Wyman to determine ways to prevent another similar situation. Following the review, the airline introduced technology updates to crew reassignment software, weather alert dashboards, communication systems and more as part of $1.3 billion plan to boost its operational resiliency.

Southwest Airlines did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.