Major US airports face ground stops, flight delays amid staff shortage

Major airports across the U.S. issued ground stops or delays on Sunday amid a shortage of Air traffic controllers.

According to Fox Business News, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey issued a ground delay Sunday afternoon until 12:59 a.m. local time the following day, with flights delayed around 82 minutes on average, according to the website for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

In Boston, a ground stop was issued until 4:30 p.m. local time at Logan International Airport due to a disabled aircraft on the runway.

Around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, a staffing shortage reportedly triggered a ground stop affecting flights at Los Angeles International Airport. That ground stop was later lifted, according to KTLA.

Oakland International Airport in Oakland, California, was also impacted by that ground stop, KTLA reported.

San Francisco International Airport issued a ground delay until 1:59 a.m. the following day, with an average delay of 44 minutes.

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Many other airports experienced temporary flight delays Sunday afternoon, typically ranging between 15 and 30 minutes, including:

Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas; Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Dallas; Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia; LaGuardia Airport in New York City; Dallas Love Field in Dallas; Denver International Airport in Denver; Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, Florida; Orlando International Airport in Orlando; Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle, and Chicago O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.

Some of the reasons listed for the delays included staffing, weather, compacted demand and traffic management initiatives, according to the FAA website.

The FAA did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment. An automatic reply from the agency stated, “Due to a lapse in funding, the FAA is not responding to routine media inquiries.”

The reply also referenced staffing challenges across the system, noting, “As (Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy) has said, there have been increased staffing shortages across the system. When that happens, the FAA slows traffic into some airports to ensure safe operations.”

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.