Ground stop at BWI ends after hours-long delay

A rare nationwide ground stop on all departing U.S. flights that lasted hours was lifted on Friday night, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said. 

The FAA and White House said the issue appeared to have been caused by a "telecommunication outage."  

All flights at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport were halted during the nationwide FAA-ordered ground stop, which affected all commercial airline departures. 

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that the nationwide ground stop was ordered due to "a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers." 

A spokesperson for BWI confirmed that all airline departures at the airport were being held.

"Travelers are advised to check with their airlines for updated flight status information," the spokesperson said. "We will provide updated information to travelers when we receive further details."  

BWI travelers react to nationwide groundstop

The incident left many travelers at BWI Airport frustrated and confused as they worked to rethink their plans while waiting on more information.

"I actually was standing in the Chick-fil-A line and didn't even know this was going on because the app didn't say anything yet. I heard the loudspeaker announce it and asked the lady next to me, and she said her flight was deplaned, so I went to my gate and heard the news officially," said a traveler, Hillary Wilson from North Carolina.

"It's obvious that lots of people are very confused. People are wanting to go on trips; I saw someone; they had an international trip, so this obviously threw a wrench in those plans. So it's discouraging; you want to get home," said Rick Smith, a traveler from Dallas.

Other passengers were already en route when they got the news, and were told they might be stuck on the tarmac for a while once they land.

"So I got on chat, and I said, ' Is there something going on in Baltimore?' and it said, ' Yes, there's a nationwide ground stop.' The ones in the air, they're allowing them to continue their flight, but the ones on the ground are staying there," said traveler Joe Digirolamo of Annapolis.

"Maybe [I'll] go get a crabcake or something."

Plenty of passengers WJZ reporter Ashley Paul spoke with were annoyed over the situation.

"We got multiple delays; I've been here since like two o'clock. Since I've gotten here, there's been two delays. So it's kind of annoying," said traveler Gabriel Garcia from Texas.

Another traveler chimed in.

"[I'm] Upset, but I honestly had to laugh too because this kind of stuff happens to me all the time, but it's also happening to the whole country," said Wilson.

Others are trying to make the most of it,  just relieved no one was in imminent danger.

"I'm going back to the hotel and maybe [I'll] go get a crabcake or something," said Smith.

"I joke with my wife, if I had been in Hawaii, I wouldn't mind a ground stop," said Digirolamo.

WJZ has reached out to BWI to verify just how many flights had been impacted by the ground stop, but that information was not readily available.