Sometimes I get `connect ETIMEDOUT 12.123.12.123:443` when calling an external endpoint. (Usually works fine)

Question

I am calling an external endpoint using node js' axios library and usually it works, but for some reason sometimes I get this response back:

AxiosError: connect ETIMEDOUT 12.123.12.123:443
    at TCPConnectWrap.afterConnect [as oncomplete] (net.js:1159:16) {
  port: 443,
  address: '12.123.12.123',
  syscall: 'connect',
  code: 'ETIMEDOUT',
  errno: -60,
  config: {
    transitional: {
      silentJSONParsing: true,
      forcedJSONParsing: true,
      clarifyTimeoutError: false
    },
    adapter: [Function: httpAdapter],
    transformRequest: [ [Function: transformRequest] ],
    transformResponse: [ [Function: transformResponse] ],
    timeout: 0,
    xsrfCookieName: 'XSRF-TOKEN',
    xsrfHeaderName: 'X-XSRF-TOKEN',
    maxContentLength: -1,
    maxBodyLength: -1,
    env: { FormData: [Function] },
    validateStatus: [Function: validateStatus],
    headers: {
      Accept: 'application/json, text/plain, */*',
      Authorization: 'Basic <AUTH_KEY>',
      'User-Agent': 'axios/0.27.2'
    },
    baseURL: 'https://api.staffology.co.uk',
    method: 'get',
    url: '/employers',
    data: undefined
  }

Any idea what can be the reason behind this? There is no timeout set to the axios client, only the baseUrl and the Authorization header.