Nationwide grounding of Southwest Airlines flights delays planes in Kona and Hilo

A nationwide grounding of Southwest Airlines flights impacted travelers in Hawai‘i and delayed flights on the Big Island this morning.

According to a tweet by the Federal Aviation Administration at 5:10 a.m., the airline requested that the FAA pause its departures due to a technical issue with one of its internal systems. The issue has since been resolved.

The pause was lifted and service has resumed. Although the ground stop was lifted shortly after being announced, more than 1,800 flights were delayed and 11 flights were canceled across the nation.

According to flight track data company FlightAware, 13 Southwest Airlines flights out of Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport were delayed due to the interruption in service. Delays were also reported in Honolulu, Hilo, Kahului and Līhu‘e.

This interruption in service comes months after 15,700 Southwest Airlines flights were canceled because winter weather began disrupting air travel on Dec. 22.

Visit http://swa.is/3A9z5cE to check flight status.