Photo: The Canadian Press

Air Canada planes sit on the tarmac at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Wednesday, April 8, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Air Canada briefly grounded its planes Thursday due to a problem with its computer system.

The airline says a technical issue with the system it uses to transmit messages to aircraft and monitor their performance, prompted a halt to operations.

Airline spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said the temporary order was precautionary, and that the system is returning to normal.

He said there were some flight delays as a result, but the effects were limited.

Tracking service FlightAware says 106 Air Canada flights, or 21 per cent, have been delayed today, even though the figure is lower than the 35 per cent on Wednesday.

Air Canada says it advised Nav Canada and the US Federal Aviation Administration of the ground stop, which lasted about an hour.