The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Friday halted all flights across four busiest airports in the country for over an hour. This raised concern among passengers due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which has already led to closure of several airspaces. 

In a post on X, FAA Secretary Sean Duffy, announced that the ground stop affected Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, Baltimore-Washington International Airport and Richmond International Airport, FAA Secretary Sean Duffy. The temporary halt delayed flights for almost 2 hours. 

Flight Operations Disrupted

According to news agency Reuters, the delay impacted more than 325 flights, or 34% of arriving and ‌departing ⁠flights at Reagan National Airport, about 30%, or 215 flights, at BWI and more than 260 flights at Dulles. Flights were later resumed around 8 pm (local time). Duffy wrote on X, " BREAKING GROUND STOP CURRENTLY AT THE FOLLOWING AIRPORTS: Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI)
 Richmond International Airport (RIC)."

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Why Were Flights Halted?

However, the ground stop was not linked to any security concerns. The air traffic was halted due to a strong chemical smell tied to a circuit board that was overheated. Duffy wrote on X, “@FAANews is working to address the source of a strong odor coming from Potomac TRACON that is impacting operations at the three airports.” He mentioned that the issue was fixed, stating “there is no danger to air traffic controllers”. Duffy added that the source of the strong odour causing disruption was traced to a circuit board that was overheated. 

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