Flight Disruptions Now

July 28, 2026

Newark's delays approach 4 hours as New York's ground stops re-fire for the afternoon wave, while DC's GDP is cancelled and South Florida sees first impacts

Subscribe
Get every issue
EmailIn your inboxPodcastAny playerRSSAny reader
Listen

The 3 PM update: the second thunderstorm wave the noon issue warned about has arrived, with Newark under a fresh ground stop and averaging 3 hours 50 minutes in ground delays on top of a GDP now running to 1 AM, LaGuardia and JFK have slid back from on-time to 2-hour and 1-hour departure delays respectively, the FAA cancelled Reagan's ground delay program because cancellations gutted demand there too, Philadelphia and Boston's delay programs deepened, South Florida's coastal routes are shut off northbound with CDRs and SWAP issued, US cancellations climbed to 1,732, and Charlotte and Denver remain in the crosshairs for 4 PM onward.

What changed since noon

The noon update reported JFK and LaGuardia's GDPs cancelled and LaGuardia back to on-time. Three hours later, the picture has reversed for the New York metros and rotated elsewhere.

The FAA's latest operations plan advisory (ADVZY 157, signed for events after 28/1800Z) states plainly: "Weather pushing into the NY metro airports anticipated to impact the terminal areas for the next several hours. Ground stops anticipated for the NY metros for the thunderstorm impacts." Newark has an active ground stop through 1900Z (3 PM Eastern) per the advisory, and flightcheck.live (last checked 3:01 PM EDT) shows it running to 3:30 PM. On top of that stop, Newark's ground delay program was extended from the 6:59 PM cutoff the noon issue reported to 0459Z (12:59 AM Eastern), and arrival delays are now averaging 3 hours 50 minutes, up from 1 hour 18 minutes at noon.

LaGuardia, which the noon issue reported as on-time, now shows departure delays of 2 hours 1 minute to 2 hours 15 minutes. JFK's departure delays grew from 15-29 minutes at noon to 1 hour to 1 hour 14 minutes. Both airports remain at PROBABLE for further ground stops or delay programs through 0200Z (10 PM Eastern) per the advisory.

Newark's average ground delay nearly tripled in three hours, from 78 minutes at noon to 230 minutes at 3 PM, making it the worst-affected airport in the country right now.

Reagan's GDP cancelled, Philadelphia and Boston deepen

The FAA cancelled Washington Reagan's ground delay program, the same demand-cutting pattern that took JFK and LaGuardia's programs offline at noon. ADVZY 157: "DCA GDP was cancelled, the volume is low with cancellations, DCC will monitor the throughput at the airport." Reagan was the noon issue's headline new addition, with a GDP projected through 10:59 PM. Cancellations did the same demand reduction there that they did in New York.

Philadelphia and Boston, which had GDPs through 6:59 PM at noon, are still running those programs and have worsened. Philadelphia's average ground delay grew from 1 hour 27 minutes at noon to 2 hours 33 minutes, with departure delays of 16-30 minutes. Boston's average grew from 48 minutes to 1 hour 51 minutes. Both GDPs run through 2259Z (6:59 PM Eastern).

San Francisco's fog-driven GDP (46-minute average) continues through 6:59 PM but the advisory notes it "should be cancelled after the next plan."

Reagan, Dulles, BWI, Miami, Charlotte, Denver, Atlanta, O'Hare, and DFW are all currently reporting on-time per flightcheck, but Dulles, BWI, and Reagan remain at PROBABLE for ground stops or delay programs through 10 PM.

South Florida feels the first impacts

The southward shift the noon issue flagged is materializing. ADVZY 157: "South Florida is beginning to see impacts, the coastal routes were shut off northbound for the weather. CDRs and SWAP statement were issued for South Florida." Miami and Fort Lauderdale remain at POSSIBLE for ground stops after 1800Z (2 PM Eastern), with Orlando and Tampa at POSSIBLE through 10 PM.

Charlotte also has route structure and CDRs published, with a ground stop or delay program POSSIBLE after 2000Z (4 PM Eastern). Denver anticipates impacts around 2200Z (6 PM Eastern) per the advisory, with a ground stop or delay program POSSIBLE after 4 PM as well. A ZDV Area 2 staffing trigger runs until 1900Z (3 PM Eastern), and the F11 TRACON staffing trigger is set for 2300-0400Z (7 PM to midnight Eastern) for the evening shift.

The FAA's daily air traffic report for Tuesday names Charlotte, Denver, Philadelphia, Florida, New York, and Washington as the day's thunderstorm risk airports, with low clouds at Seattle and San Francisco and high winds in Las Vegas.

The numbers

FlightAware counts 1,732 US cancellations and 4,085 US delays as of 3:06 PM EDT, up from 1,628 cancellations and 2,486 delays at noon. Nationwide the total stands at 2,204 cancellations and 22,036 delays.

The New York-area cancellation count, as of late morning, was nearly 800 across the three airports: LaGuardia 339, JFK 304, Newark 155, according to NY1 and OpenJaw citing FlightAware. JetBlue alone canceled 139 flights at JFK, per TheTravel.

Montreal (YUL) is also under a ground stop through 4 PM EDT with arrival delays averaging 1 hour 7 minutes, per flightcheck. White Plains (HPN) departure delays are running 3 hours 31 minutes to 3 hours 45 minutes, and Teterboro is at 3 hours 16 minutes to 3 hours 30 minutes.

Rebooking and waivers

All four major carriers still have weather waivers open for the Northeast, unchanged from the noon update:

No carrier has issued a South Florida or Charlotte-specific waiver yet. If you are traveling through MIA, FLL, CLT, or DEN this afternoon or evening, check your airline's travel alerts page directly, as the southward shift may prompt new waivers after the FAA's next planning webinar at 1915Z (3:15 PM Eastern).

What to watch

The FAA's next planning webinar was scheduled for 1915Z (3:15 PM Eastern). Key things that could change the picture before the evening:

The Storm Prediction Center's Day 1 outlook maintains a Slight Risk (Level 2 of 5) for the southern Mid-Atlantic and Carolinas, with a 5% tornado risk from Virginia into the Carolinas. A Flood Watch remains in effect for the New York tri-state through Wednesday evening, with 2-5 inches of rain expected and rates that could exceed 2 inches per hour, per ABC7 NY.

That’s the reading for this issue.