A system outage at a Minneapolis air traffic control facility caused flights heading to and from Minnesota and nine other Midwest states to be diverted or held on the ground on August 20, 2026.
The outage, which affected radar and air traffic control systems, occurred at the Minneapolis facility responsible for managing air traffic over 330,000 square miles of the Midwest region.
Flights were grounded or rerouted throughout Minnesota and in Michigan, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin due to the disruption at the Minneapolis control center.
Delays at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) averaged 90 minutes
during the Thursday evening period. Similar delays were reported at several other regional airports and were expected to persist throughout the evening.
Although the radar and air traffic control systems were restored later in the day, disruptions remained at multiple airports across the affected states.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the outage and reported that flight delays and cancellations continued as of Thursday evening.
