FAA Reports 121-Minute Delays at Reagan National Airport

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a ground delay program for flights bound for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on the evening of September 13, 2026, after thunderstorms moved through the Washington, D.C. region, with agency data showing average delays of 121 minutes for affected departures. According to the FAA National Airspace System Status website, as reported by 7News, the program ran from 8:30 p.m. Sunday until 12:59 a.m. Monday and assigned expected departure clearance times to flights leaving airports within 1,000 nautical miles.

If you are flying tonight, the decision is simple: check your flight status with your airline before heading to the airport, because the disruption touched all three major airports serving the capital region. Travelers with extra time in the city can salvage the evening with this Washington DC itinerary for three days, while anyone rebooking to Monday should plan around residual schedule recovery.

FAA Ground Delay Program at Reagan National Runs to 12:59 a.m.

The FAA program applied to departures within 1,000 nautical miles of Reagan National, a radius that covers all departures from the contiguous United States plus select flights departing from Canada, according to the agency status board cited by WCBM reporting on the 7News account. Every affected flight received an expected departure clearance time, which means airlines metered takeoffs in assigned slots instead of allowing normal first come departures. That metering is what produced the 121 minute average delay figure for flights bound for the airport.

A ground delay program differs from a ground stop. Under a stop, departures for the destination halt entirely. Under a delay program, aircraft keep moving but only at their assigned times, which spreads the backlog across the evening rather than stacking it at the gate. For travelers, the practical effect is the same either way: posted departure times slip, connections tighten, and some itineraries break. The program end time of 12:59 a.m. marked the point when metering was scheduled to lift, not the moment normal schedules resumed.

BWI and Dulles Face Their Own Ground Stops

The same storm complex forced the FAA to halt departures bound for Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport from 7:24 p.m. to 10 p.m., with the agency rating the chance of an extension as medium, between 30 and 60 percent. At Washington Dulles International Airport, the FAA implemented a separate ground stop from 8:45 p.m. until 10 p.m., temporarily grounding departures for Dulles that were staged at several northeastern and Canadian air traffic facilities.

Dulles absorbed additional pressure beyond its ground stop. The FAA reported that departures from Dulles averaged 120 minutes of delay, with delays increasing because of weather related traffic management initiatives. In other words, two of the three airports spent the evening under full stops while the third operated under metered flow, so rebooking from one capital region airport to another offered little escape. The FAA airport status page for Reagan National carries the current official picture for anyone deciding whether to travel.

FlightAware Counts 41 Delays and 23 Cancellations by 9:37 p.m.

FlightAware MiseryMap data tallied 41 delays and 23 cancellations at Reagan National as of 9:37 p.m., roughly one hour into the ground delay program. Those counts captured only the early phase, since the program continued for more than three additional hours and the Dulles delay trend was officially described as increasing. Evening totals therefore stood to climb after the snapshot time, especially for late bank departures and inbound aircraft that missed their turns.

The geographic spread matters for trip planning. Thunderstorms that disrupt all three Washington area airports at once remove the usual backup options, because a traveler cannot simply switch from Reagan National to Dulles or BWI when each airport faces its own FAA restriction. Visitors stuck overnight can still use the time well with these ranked things to do in Washington DC, several of which sit close to the airport across the river.

Steps to Take if You Fly Tonight

Start with your airline app or flight status page rather than the departure board at home, since assigned clearance times can shift as the evening progresses. If your flight shows a delay but not a cancellation, stay reachable and keep your party together, because gates and times can change more than once during metered operations. If your flight is canceled, rebook inside the airline app before joining any phone queue, since agents and fellow passengers see the same limited pool of Monday seats.

Connecting travelers face the hardest math. A two hour average delay breaks most domestic connections, so anyone ticketed through Reagan National tonight should ask the airline to protect them on a later connection or reroute them through an unaffected hub while seats remain. Travelers already at the airport should charge devices, save meal receipts, and keep boarding passes, since documentation makes any later customer service request far simpler. None of this restores the evening, but each step shortens the recovery.