Computers ground over 1,000 Southwest Air flights

DALLAS, Texas: Southwest Airlines was forced to temporarily stop operations and cancel 500 flights over "connectivity issues" on Tuesday, just hours after a weather service glitch grounded its entire fleet.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily halted Southwest's flight operations across the U.S. after a technical snag developed in the budget carrier's reservation system, Reuters reported.

According to flight tracker FlightAware, the grounding delayed more than 1,300, or 37 percent, of Southwest flights.

Southwest said the delays, which lasted about 45 minutes, were caused by "intermittent performance issues with our network connectivity" and that the airlines was in the process of resuming normal operations.

The shutdown was the second such disruption for the low-cost carrier in 24 hours.

Earlier on Monday, the carrier grounded its fleet after a "third-party weather data provider experienced intermittent performance issues preventing transmission of weather information that is required to safely operate our aircraft".

The issue had delayed several hundred flights, the airline said.

Southwest's technical problems have come at a time when airlines are witnessing a resurgence in demand, after a lengthy pandemic-induced slump in travel.