Ground stop at Washington National (DCA), Oct 19, 2026

EndedVIP security stop halts Washington National departures for 40 minutes

Started: Mon, Oct 19, 3:51 PM EDT19:51 UTC
Ended: Mon, Oct 19, 4:31 PM EDT20:31 UTC
Duration: 40 min
Cause: VIP

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What happened

AI-written · may contain mistakes. Written from the advisory text and weather only.

Cause: Security measures tied to a VIP visit led air traffic control to stop departures. The weather was clear, so it was not a factor.

The ground stop began at 19:51 UTC and ended at 20:31 UTC, lasting 40 minutes. Departures from one air traffic control center were held during that time. It ended as scheduled and was not extended.

Impact by airline

Aircraft seen on the ground at DCA and holding nearby, by airline.

Airline	On ground	Holding
Southwest Airlines WN	7	—
PSA Airlines OH	5	—
American Airlines AA	3	—
Delta Air Lines DL	2	—
Envoy Air MQ	2	—
Republic Airways YX	2	—
Alaska Airlines AS	1	—
JetBlue B6	1	—
Jazz QK	1	—
United Airlines UA	1	—

Impact by region

Air traffic control centers whose departures to the airport were held.

Center	Status
New York Center (ZNY)	Held

Aircraft at the airport

Peak 17 on the ground, 0 holding nearby.

On the ground Holding nearby

Timeline

Every change published while the ground stop was in effect, as seen each minute.

Oct 19, 3:51 PM EDT
Ground stop issued at DCA for vip, until 4:30 pm EDT. Departures held from ZNY.
Oct 19, 4:31 PM EDT
Ground stop ended after 40 min.

Advisories

The air traffic control advisories issued for this ground stop, as published.

ATCSCC ADVZY 049 DCA/ZDC 10/19/2026 CDM GROUND STOP

CTL ELEMENT: DCA
ELEMENT TYPE: APT
ADL TIME: 1946Z
GROUND STOP PERIOD: 19/1936Z - 19/2030Z
DEP FACILITIES INCLUDED: (Manual) ZNY
PREVIOUS TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 0 / 0 / 0
NEW TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 89 / 32 / 30
PROBABILITY OF EXTENSION: MEDIUM
IMPACTING CONDITION: OTHER / SECURITY
COMMENTS:

Original advisory ↗

How it is measured

Status, timeline, cause and held centers: the national airspace status feed, checked every minute, and the air traffic control advisories it links to.
Delays by airline and region: departures and arrivals at DCA 30 or more minutes late, by their estimated delay against the schedule, sampled every 10 minutes while the stop is active and once more after it ends.
Totals and cancellations: arrival and departure boards for DCA, every 30 minutes while active and once more after the end. Delayed means 15 or more minutes late at DCA; cancelled is the airline's cancelled status; codeshares count once. Flights scheduled from the start until an hour after the end are counted.
Held at origin: the same arrivals boards, which carry each flight's scheduled and actual departure from its origin. A flight is held when it is still scheduled, not departed, 15 or more minutes past its scheduled departure at a sample taken during the stop. In scope: its origin is in a held center or listed facility; flights from elsewhere are late for other reasons.
Inbound in the air: the same arrivals boards. At each board taken during the stop, a flight to DCA is in the air when it has departed (en route, or with an actual departure time) and not landed, cancelled or diverted; one still shown in the air over an hour past its arrival estimate, or departed more than 18 hours earlier, is treated as stale and left out.
Diversions: an inbound flight marked diverted during the stop or the wrap-up after it (not one marked before it could have departed), or one still shown in the air 30+ minutes past its arrival estimate that ADS-B (by its ICAO call sign) then found on the ground at another airport, not its origin. The diversion airport is the airport ADS-B found it at, else the updated destination. Cancellations never count. Regional flights flown under another call sign can't be found on ADS-B, so their diversion airport may be unknown.
Aircraft on the ground and holding: ADS-B positions around DCA, every 5 minutes; the airline is read from the call sign. Holding counts airline flights only (passenger, regional and cargo), not private, military or medical flights.
Weather: METARs, SIGMETs and weather alerts.
News: headline links filtered to this airport and these days; we show titles and links only.

Data sources are listed on the credits page.