Summary

• There was a service outage at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA); officials and local authorities suspect a possible cyberattack.
• The service outage has been ongoing since August 24 and authorities are unable to provide a timetable for resolving the problems at the airport.
• Some airlines were particularly affected by the service outage.

The Port of Seattle, operator of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) has continued to address the current system outage that the company has been suffering from for three days now.

The system has impacted the operator and the airport so severely that both companies’ websites are currently inaccessible. The Port of Seattle is providing updates through a page on the Washington Public Ports Association (WPPA) website.

Service outage

In an update on August 26, the Port of Seattle announced that it “certain system failures, including a possible cyber attack.”

To counteract the potential attack, the operator of SEA has isolated critical systems and is working with the support of industry experts to restore full operations.

However, the Port of Seattle was unable to provide a timeline for fully restoring its systems.

“We are working closely with our partners to assist travelers who may be affected. If you are traveling today, please check with your airline for flight and baggage information.”

Travel peaks on Labor Day

According to the agency, the airport will be heavily used by travel traffic early on Labor Day, so passengers should allow extra time for flights from SEA.

In addition, the Port of Seattle warned that the outage had affected Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Spirit Airlines, Sun Country Airlines and especially all international airlines, ask passengers to allow more time for their journey when departing from the airport.

Data from aviation analytics firm Cirium showed that airlines had a total of 6,330 flights scheduled on the day of the outage, August 24, and then through Labor Day on September 2.

August 25 and 30 were the busiest days, with 677 and 671 scheduled flights from SEA on those two days, respectively.

Meanwhile, the four US airlines most affected by the outage departed the airport a total of 150 times, including 17 flights from SEA on August 26.

In total, non-US-based airlines have scheduled 372 departures during this period. Air Canada WestJet and Icelandair lead the field with 80, 35 and 30 flights from SEA respectively.

Possible cyber attack

On August 26, Greg Hawko, the security director for the US state of Washington, said Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reiterated that the safety of passengers and airlines had not been compromised by the outage.

Hawko added that TSA systems at SEA remain operational and that the agency continues to screen passengers as they pass through the airport.

Both Hawko and Perry Coopper, chief media relations officer for the Port of Seattle, urged passengers to travel without checked baggage if possible, while also urging them to print their boarding passes or have them ready using mobile applications before going through security.

In a press conference on Sunday, the 25th, SEA Managing Director of Aviation Lance Lyttle stated that the airport believes it was a cyberattack. The CEO added that the airport is working with federal partners to investigate the incident, the Seattle Times reported.