A temporary outage at a Minneapolis air traffic control facility on August 18, 2026, affected radar and air traffic control systems, leading to grounded and diverted flights.
Regional Impact Across Ten Midwest States
The outage disrupted air traffic over a 330,000 square mile area that includes Minnesota and nine other Midwest states: Michigan, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.
Flight Delays, Groundings, and Diversions
Flights scheduled to depart or arrive in Minnesota and the surrounding states were held on the ground or rerouted during the outage. Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) saw average delays of 90 minutes Thursday evening, while additional delays were reported or expected at airports
in Michigan, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. Though radar and ATC systems came back online later in the day, residual disruptions persisted at several airports.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the flight interruptions stemmed from the system outage at the Minneapolis air traffic control facility. The disruption affected a regional ATC center responsible for managing air traffic across multiple states rather than the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport itself.
