The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday shut down flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport over security concerns.
The FAA issued a ground stop, freezing all departing flights from the airport between 11:18 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. ET, according to the alert, the Daily Mail reported.
Crystal Nosal, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Media Relations, said in a statement, “All flight operations are being held at Reagan National while passengers on a United Airlines flight are being offloaded and bussed to the terminal. We will provide more information as it becomes available.”
The probability of extension was classified as “medium,” according to the FAA, meaning the situation was still being evaluated at the time of the notice.
A security issue can refer to a range of situations, from a threat investigation, restricted-area breach, or terminal evacuation to a temporary airspace lockdown.
Flight radar around the airport showed several planes circling during the ground stop, while others were diverted to other locations.
The ground stop impacted about 820 flights, with maximum delays of 66 minutes and average delays of 33 minutes.
