Cyber attack forces airline to cancel flights in Alaska

RavnAir canceled at least a half-dozen flights in Alaska on Saturday — at the peak of holiday travel — following what the company described as “a malicious cyber attack” on its computer network.

The cancellations affected around 260 passengers, according to company spokeswoman Debbie Reinwand, according to The Associated Press (AP).

The regional carrier canceled all flights involving its Dash 8 aircraft until noon “because the cyber attack forced us to disconnect our Dash 8 maintenance system and its back-up,” the company said in a written statement.

The airline serves more than 100 communities in Alaska, many of which are not accessible by road.

The company is working with the FBI, other authorities and a cyber security company to restore systems.

RavnAir Alaska later announced that it will operate a normal afternoon schedule on its Dash-8 flights.

“We will be trying to add flights where we can over the next two days,” the company said in a statement released at 1 p.m. “We have, where possible, re-booked passengers on other flights.”

PenAir flights and RavnAir Connect flights were still operating normally on back-up systems, Reinwand said.