Ground stop at New York LaGuardia (LGA), Oct 20, 2026

EndedHeavy demand halts LaGuardia departures for 45 minutes

Started: Tue, Oct 20, 1:46 PM EDT17:46 UTC
Ended: Tue, Oct 20, 2:31 PM EDT18:31 UTC
Duration: 45 min
Cause: airport volume

Check your flight

Enter your flight number to see its EDCT, the ground stop or delay program at its destination, and its status.

What happened

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

Cause: LaGuardia had more departures bunched together than the airport could handle, while calm weather was not the cause.

The ground stop began at 17:46 UTC and was lifted at 18:31 UTC, after 45 minutes, earlier than its planned end of 18:45 UTC. Departures were held from one air traffic control center, and the advisory reported 220 delayed flights, with an average delay of 24 minutes and a maximum of 44 minutes. Air traffic control had rated an extension as medium likely, but the stop was not extended.

Impact by airline

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

Airline	On ground	Holding
Republic Airways YX	9	—
Delta Air Lines DL	6	—
Endeavor Air 9E	6	—
American Airlines AA	5	—
Southwest Airlines WN	3	—
Air Canada AC	2	—
JetBlue B6	1	—
United Airlines UA	1	—

Impact by region

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

Center	Status
Washington Center (ZDC)	Held

Aircraft at the airport

Peak 26 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 20, 1:46 PM EDT
Ground stop issued at LGA for airport volume, until 2:45 pm EDT. Departures held from ZDC.
Oct 20, 2:31 PM EDT
Ground stop ended after 45 min.

Advisories

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

ATCSCC ADVZY 040 LGA/ZNY 10/20/2026 CDM GROUND STOP

CTL ELEMENT: LGA
ELEMENT TYPE: APT
ADL TIME: 1740Z
GROUND STOP PERIOD: 20/1730Z - 20/1845Z
DEP FACILITIES INCLUDED: (Manual) ZDC
PREVIOUS TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 0 / 0 / 0
NEW TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 220 / 44 / 24
PROBABILITY OF EXTENSION: MEDIUM
IMPACTING CONDITION: VOLUME / COMPACTED DEMAND
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 LGA 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 LGA, every 30 minutes while active and once more after the end. Delayed means 15 or more minutes late at LGA; 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 LGA 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 LGA, 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.