WASHINGTON (Reuters) -WestJet Airlines said on Tuesday a return to normal operations was underway after a temporary system outage had forced the Canadian carrier to briefly halt all departures.

Earlier in the day, the airline, owned by Onex Corp, requested the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration for a ground stop that affected the flights operated under the WestJet livery and its regional unit, WestJet Encore.

A ground stop is an air traffic control measure that temporarily halts flights from departing for a specific airport or region, usually due to safety, weather, or operational issues.

The system outage delayed the handover of aircraft from maintenance personnel for scheduled operations, the airline said in a statement to Reuters.

"WestJet expedited efforts to resolve the technological issue and a return to normal operations is underway," it said.

(Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary and Susan Heavey; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)