Four airports serving Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, Virginia, halted all flights on Friday evening for more than an hour after a strong chemical smell disrupted air traffic controllers, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
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 announced the ground stop on social media Friday, and the declaration contributed to flight delays that “soar[ed] to roughly two hours across some of the busiest airports in the country,” according to the report.
Flights began to leave the airports after 7 p.m. ET on Friday, the report said, but the ground stop remained in place. The report said the ground stop prevented planes from landing at an airport, even as departures resumed.
Duffy wrote that the smell was coming from Potomac TRACON, described as a terminal radar approach control facility that manages air traffic for the Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Richmond, Virginia, and the Richmond-Charlottesville areas, according to the FAA website as cited in the report.
The report said the FAA spokesperson did not respond to an emailed question seeking clarification about how the smell was affecting air traffic controllers on Friday evening.
After the ground stop, the report said delays spread to a significant share of flights departing the four airports. It reported that between 25% and one-third of flights departing from the affected airports were delayed.