A system outage at the Minneapolis air traffic control facility on August 7, 2026, disrupted flights across nine Midwest states including Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Major airports within the 330,000 square mile coverage area of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) control center, including MSP and Omaha’s Eppley Airfield, experienced flight groundings and delays. The Minneapolis airport confirmed a ground stop on social media as flights were diverted or held on the tarmac. Delays averaged 90 minutes Thursday evening at MSP, with impacts extending through the evening hours.
Travelers at affected airports
faced numerous flight cancellations and extended waiting periods. Eppley Airfield officials confirmed multiple arrival and departure delays linked to the outage. Passengers have been urged to verify their flight status in advance as airlines began resuming some operations but disruptions continue.
The FAA restored radar and air traffic control systems after the outage but delays persisted for several hours beyond system recovery. Officials reported ongoing impacts to flight schedules across the region as traffic gradually normalized.
The FAA specified the failure was at a regional control center, not at the Minneapolis airport tower itself. The Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport’s tower
remained operational throughout the incident.
FAA representatives confirmed that the Minneapolis control center outage caused the extensive grounding and delays across the Midwest on August 7. Local airports including Eppley Airfield reported significant flight disruptions, and FAA systems are now fully functional though residual delays remain.
