Overview
- FAA advisories placed Orlando International Airport under a ground delay program from 10 p.m. Thursday to 3 a.m. Friday due to staffing shortfalls.
- Passengers were advised to expect average delays of nearly three hours, with the longest delays projected to approach 12 hours.
- The FAA warned there could be periods when no arriving flights would be able to land because no certified air traffic controllers were available.
- Airport postings showed widespread disruption, including a Southwest Orlando–Washington flight moved from 8:45 p.m. to 1:16 a.m. and a Spirit Newark arrival first delayed past midnight then canceled.
- During the funding lapse, FAA and TSA personnel are working without pay, and the FAA is not responding to routine media inquiries.