A system outage at the Federal Aviation Administration’s Minneapolis air traffic control facility on August 18, 2026, disabled radar and air traffic control systems managing a 330,000-square-mile area covering Minnesota and nine other Midwest states.
Flights heading to and from Minnesota and eight additional states were diverted or held on the ground due to the outage. At Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, delays averaged 90 minutes on the evening of August 18. Disruptions persisted into the evening at airports in Michigan, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.
FAA Statement on Outage Location and Service Restoration
The Federal Aviation Administration clarified that the disruption occurred at the
Minneapolis air traffic control facility, not at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport itself. Radar and control systems later resumed operation, but traffic management delays remained significant across multiple airports in the region.
Geographic Scope of Disruptions Across the Midwest
The affected air traffic control facility oversees flights across Minnesota and nine Midwest states, including Michigan, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. The broad regional impact led to flight groundings and diversions affecting air travel within this extensive area on August 18, 2026.
