MONTREAL – ********** briefly grounded its planes Thursday due to a ******* with its computer system, delaying nearly half its flights.

A “technical issue” with the system the ******* uses to communicate with aircraft and monitor their performance prompted a halt to operations, the Montreal-based company said.

“There have been some delays as a result, but the system is now returning to normal, and the precautionary ground stop has been lifted,” said spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick in a statement Thursday afternoon.

“The effects were limited.”

As of Thursday night, 241 ********** flights _ 46 per cent of its trips that day _ were *******, according to tracking service FlightAware. That compares with about 35 per cent on Wednesday and 30 per cent on Tuesday.

Another 19 flights were also cancelled Thursday.

********** said it advised Nav Canada and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration of the temporary freeze, which lasted about an hour.

The FAA posted an advisory stating all ********** and ********** Rouge flights were put on hold “due to internal computer issues.”