Ground stop at San Diego (SAN), Oct 16, 2026

EndedWind halts San Diego departures for 36 minutes

Started: Fri, Oct 16, 8:44 AM PDT15:44 UTC
Ended: Fri, Oct 16, 9:20 AM PDT16:20 UTC
Duration: 36 min
Cause: wind

Ended: final numbers are being collected; this page becomes permanent shortly.

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What happened

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

Cause: Wind was the stated concern at San Diego airport, which was also switching the direction planes use to take off and land, so departures were held.

The ground stop began at 15:44 UTC and ended at 16:20 UTC, lasting 36 minutes. Departures were held from five air traffic control centers. At the time of the advisory, a ground delay program was expected and the chance of an extension was rated medium. The advisory reported 472 total delays, with an average of 39 minutes.

Impact by airline

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

Airline	On ground	Holding
Southwest Airlines WN	12	—
Horizon Air QX	3	—
American Airlines AA	2	—
Alaska Airlines AS	2	—
SkyWest Airlines OO	2	—
United Airlines UA	2	—
Delta Air Lines DL	1	—
Frontier Airlines F9	1	—
JetBlue B6	1	—

Impact by region

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

Center	Status
Albuquerque Center (ZAB)	Held
Denver Center (ZDV)	Held
Los Angeles Center (ZLA)	Held
Salt Lake City Center (ZLC)	Held
Oakland Center (ZOA)	Held

Aircraft at the airport

Peak 29 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 16, 8:44 AM PDT
Ground stop issued at SAN for wind, until 9:45 am PDT. Departures held from ZLA, ZLC, ZDV, ZOA and 1 more.
Oct 16, 9:20 AM PDT
Ground stop ended after 36 min.

Advisories

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

ATCSCC ADVZY 077 SAN/ZLA 10/16/2026 CDM GROUND STOP

CTL ELEMENT: SAN
ELEMENT TYPE: APT
ADL TIME: 1541Z
GROUND STOP PERIOD: 16/1526Z - 16/1645Z
DEP FACILITIES INCLUDED: (1stTier) ZLA ZLC ZDV ZOA ZAB
PREVIOUS TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 0 / 0 / 0
NEW TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 472 / 67 / 39
PROBABILITY OF EXTENSION: MEDIUM
IMPACTING CONDITION: WEATHER / WIND
COMMENTS: SAN CURRENTLY TRANSITIONING TO AN EAST CONFIGURATION.
 EXPECT GROUND DELAY PROGRAM.

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