FOX Weather0%
Airport ground stops vs. ground delays: What are they and how do they happen?23%
By Hayley Vawter0%
12/19/2025, 9:12:57 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 8 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Anchoring Bias, and Negativity Bias, with Availability Heuristic as the most egregious example at 20.7% saturation with 154 hits. Analysis detected 453 faulty-reasoning hits from 744 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 36.1% and a BS Rank of 23% (16,967 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 77.50% of the article peer group.
If you've ever had a flight scheduled to depart during bad weather and get a notification that your flight was delayed or even canceled, it could've been because of a ground delay or a ground stop.
What do these common aviation phrases mean?
How do they happen?
Who do they affect?
What's the difference between them?
We're here to explain.
Flight board showing several delays and cancellations at New York's LaGuardia Airport on July 1, 2025.
(FOX Weather)
What is a ground delay?
A ground delay impacts arriving flights to an airport where the ground delay is in effect.
Said arriving flights are held at their destination airport for a period of time during a ground delay.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, Ground Delay Programs are implemented to control air traffic volume at airports where the projected traffic demand is expected to exceed the airport's acceptance rate for a lengthy period of time.
Flights destined for the airport with the ground delay are given a controlled departure time and help control when air traffic arrives at the airport with the delay.
Ground delays typically happen because of disadvantageous weather conditions.
Those weather conditions could be caused by snow, wind, rain, thunderstorms or ice.
Ground delays can also be caused by issues with the runway.
Low ceilings, also known as low cloud cover, and low visibility caused by things like fog, smoke or clouds, can also trigger a ground delay.
When the FAA issues a ground delay for an airport, the alert will include the three-letter airport code, the times at which arrivals are expected to be impacted, the reason for the delay, the average time delay for arriving traffic and the maximum time delay for arriving traffic.
For example, the photo below includes information about a ground delay at Boston Logan International Airport on Dec. 19, 2025.
A ground delay was issued on Dec. 19 for Boston Logan International Airport due to wind.
(FAA / FOX Weather)
Because the ground delay is for Boston, all flights set to arrive at Boston may be impacted by the ground delay.
The alert includes the reason for the delay: wind; the average delay: 68 minutes; the maximum time delayed: 203 minutes, and the amount of time the delay is expected to impact arrivals Dec. 19, from 1730 Zulu/universal time to Dec. 20 at 0459 Zulu/universal time.
Zulu, or universal time, is a 24-hour time clock used in meteorology and aviation to keep things standard across the different time zones.
Ground stops vs. ground delays explained (FOX Weather)
What is a ground stop?
Unlike ground delays, ground stops are usually only for short periods of time, but they are more serious.
They completely halt arriving traffic at whatever airport has the ground stop at their departure airport for the entire duration of the ground stop.
A Southwest plane takes off as snow begins to fall at Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., on Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022.
(Samuel Corum/Bloomberg)
According to the FAA, the most common reasons for a ground stop are:
- To control air traffic volume to airports when the projected traffic demand is expected to exceed the airport's acceptance rate for a short period of time.
- To temporarily stop traffic to allow time for the implementation of a longer-term solution, such as a Ground Delay Program.
- The affected airport's acceptance rate has been reduced to zero.
Like ground delays, weather can be a factor for a ground stop.
Ground stop alerts will contain the three-letter airport code where the ground stop is occurring and the reason for the ground stop.
The following shows what a ground stop alert can look like.
This one is issued for Washington Dulles International Airport on Dec. 19, 2025.
The following FAA ground stop alert was issued for Washington Dulles International Airport on Dec. 19, 2025.
(FAA)
It shows the airport, the time the ground stop is in effect, the conditions causing the ground stop — wind, and how likely it is the ground stop could be extended.
This specific ground stop says that a ground delay is likely to be issued after the ground stop is lifted.
It's up to each individual airline to look at the FAA's ground stops and ground delays and determine whether a flight should be canceled or not.
To see an updated list of the FAA's ground delays and ground stops, visit their National Airspace System Status page.
Speakers
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.