Ground stop at Chicago Midway (MDW), Nov 13, 2026

EndedEquipment outage halts departures to Chicago Midway for 59 minutes

Started: Fri, Nov 13, 2:32 PM CST20:32 UTC
Ended: Fri, Nov 13, 3:31 PM CST21:31 UTC
Duration: 59 min
Cause: equipment outage

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What happened

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

Cause: An equipment outage at air traffic control forced a pause in departures bound for Chicago Midway, so flights could not safely leave on schedule.

The ground stop at Chicago Midway began at 20:32 UTC on November 13 and was lifted at 21:31 UTC, lasting 59 minutes. Departures were held from 20 air traffic control centers, including ones in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Canada. The stop was not extended, and it has ended.

Impact by airline

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

Airline	On ground	Holding
Southwest Airlines WN	1	—

Impact by region

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

Center	Status
Albuquerque Center (ZAB)	Held
Chicago Center (ZAU)	Held
Boston Center (ZBW)	Held
Washington Center (ZDC)	Held
Denver Center (ZDV)	Held
Fort Worth Center (ZFW)	Held
Houston Center (ZHU)	Held
Indianapolis Center (ZID)	Held
Jacksonville Center (ZJX)	Held
Kansas City Center (ZKC)	Held
Los Angeles Center (ZLA)	Held
Salt Lake City Center (ZLC)	Held
Miami Center (ZMA)	Held
Memphis Center (ZME)	Held
Minneapolis Center (ZMP)	Held
New York Center (ZNY)	Held
Oakland Center (ZOA)	Held
Cleveland Center (ZOB)	Held
Seattle Center (ZSE)	Held
Atlanta Center (ZTL)	Held

Aircraft at the airport

Peak 1 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.

Nov 13, 2:32 PM CST
Ground stop issued at MDW for equipment, until 3:30 pm CST. Departures held from ZLA, ZAU, ZLC, ZTL and 16 more.
Nov 13, 2:34 PM CST
Reason changed to equipment outage.
Nov 13, 3:31 PM CST
Ground stop ended after 59 min.

Advisories

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

ATCSCC ADVZY 109 MDW/ZAU 11/13/2026 CDM GROUND STOP

CTL ELEMENT: MDW
ELEMENT TYPE: APT
ADL TIME: 2027Z
GROUND STOP PERIOD: 13/2017Z - 13/2130Z
DEP FACILITIES INCLUDED: (ALL+CZY_AP) ZLA ZAU ZLC ZTL ZDC ZNY ZHU ZJX
 ZFW ZOB ZDV ZOA ZSE ZBW ZMA ZKC ZME ZID ZAB ZMP  CYHZ CYOW CYUL CYYZ

PREVIOUS TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 0 / 0 / 0
NEW TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 647 / 66 / 38
PROBABILITY OF EXTENSION: MEDIUM
IMPACTING CONDITION: EQUIPMENT / OUTAGE
COMMENTS:

Original advisory ↗

Where flights were held

Departures to MDW were held from 20 centers (ALL+CZY_AP).

Chance of extension: MEDIUM

Weather at the time

METAR, weather alerts and SIGMETs at the airport during the stop.

When it started

VFR

METAR KMDW 131953Z 35012KT 10SM BKN037 BKN075 BKN130 06/M03 A3004 RMK AO2 SLP180 T00611028 · observed Nov 13, 1:53 PM CST

Latest during the stop

VFR

METAR KMDW 132053Z 02011KT 10SM BKN035 BKN075 BKN130 06/M01 A3004 RMK AO2 SLP180 T00561011 $ · observed Nov 13, 2:53 PM CST

In the news

Headlines that mention this airport and the disruption. Links open the publisher.

FAA issues nationwide ground stop Friday, impacting O’Hare and Midway
Secret Chicago · Nov 13, 3:38 PM CST
More than 250 flights delayed at O'Hare, Midway amid nationwide FAA ground stop
NBC 5 Chicago · Nov 13, 3:35 PM CST
FAA Orders Nationwide Ground Stop After Chicago Outages — Flights Being Grounded
شبكة تواصل الإخبارية · Nov 13, 3:34 PM CST
FAA issues nationwide ground stop, affecting Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports
FOX 32 Chicago · Nov 13, 3:30 PM CST
Nationwide Ground Stop Hits O’Hare, Midway Amid Communications Issue
Patch · Nov 13, 3:25 PM CST
FAA issues ground stops at Chicago O'Hare and Midway airports due to "equipment outage"
CBS News · Nov 13, 3:05 PM CST

Chicago Midway (MDW) live status →Every ground stop at MDW →Replay Nov 13, 2026 on the map →Read the full advisory ↗What is a ground stop? →

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 MDW 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 MDW, every 30 minutes while active and once more after the end. Delayed means 15 or more minutes late at MDW; 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 MDW 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 MDW, 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.