Is there a ground stop at ATL today?
No ground stop at ATL right now (as of 8:49 PM ET, Nov 6): the FAA lists no ground stop, ground delay program or delays for Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport. In the last 12 months the FAA issued 72 ground stops and 23 ground delay programs for ATL, most often for thunderstorms, holding flights on 56 days.
Live FAA delay status for Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (KATL, Atlanta, GA): ground stops, ground delay programs and delays right now, what the FAA has listed for ATL recently, and how often flights here actually run late.
No: the FAA is not reporting a ground stop at ATL right now.
FAA NAS Status lists no ground stop, ground delay program, or delay event for Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta Intl. Checked Nov 7, 2026 · 0149Z (8:49 PM EST); this page refreshes about every two minutes.
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Why ATL gets delayed
Atlanta has long ranked as the world's busiest airport by passengers, and with five parallel runways it takes a lot to slow it down. Between October 2025 and October 2026 the FAA held flights bound for ATL on 59 days. Two thirds of those programs had the same cause: thunderstorms. Georgia's summer storms build in the afternoon, and July alone produced 22 of the year's 73 ground stops.
When a stop comes, it is usually short. The typical ATL ground stop lasted 1 h 25 min, and the longest of the year, on March 16, 2026, ran 5 h 31 min during severe weather the FAA logged as tornado activity. Ground delay programs were less common (24) and typically ran about two and a half hours. The outlier was November 8, 2025, when controller staffing during the federal government shutdown produced a 9-hour program with an average delay of more than four and a half hours.
Most of Atlanta's lateness is knock-on delay rather than FAA action. In BTS data, late-arriving aircraft caused 38% of delay minutes and airline issues 39%, against 18% for the air traffic system.
Written by the ATIS Alerts team from FAA Command Center advisories (October 2025 to October 2026), BTS airline on-time data (June 2025 to May 2026) and 20 years of hourly weather observations. Updated October 2026.
How long ATL delays usually last
Every FAA ground stop and ground delay program for ATL from Nov 6, 2025 to Nov 5, 2026, rebuilt from the FAA Command Center's own advisories.
Ground delay programs
23Ground stops
72Flights to ATL were held by at least one FAA program on 56 days in the last year. 41% of the stops and programs began between 2 PM and 6 PM local time.
What triggered them
ATL ground stops and delay programs by month
| Month | Ground stops | Delay programs | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 2025 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| January 2026 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| February 2026 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| March 2026 | 7 | 4 | 11 |
| April 2026 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| May 2026 | 10 | 4 | 14 |
| June 2026 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| July 2026 | 22 | 7 | 29 |
| August 2026 | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| September 2026 | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| October 2026 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| November 2026 to dateplus Nov 6-30, 2025 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
The busiest month was July, with 29 ground stops and delay programs combined.
Source: FAA ATCSCC advisory database (fly.faa.gov), every ground stop and ground delay program advisory the FAA Command Center issued for ATL, rebuilt daily by ATIS Alerts.
Best time of day to fly out of ATL
Airline departures scheduled before 9 AM left on time 89% of the time, against 68% for those scheduled 6 to 9 PM. By weekday, Wednesday was the most reliable (83%) and Sunday the least (72%). BTS on-time data, June 2025 to May 2026; on time = within 15 minutes.
Recent FAA events at ATL
Ground stops and delay programs the FAA has listed for ATL in the last 90 days, from ATIS Alerts' own log of FAA NAS Status.
- Ground StopNov 4, 2026 · 2210Z (5:10 PM EST)lasted 1h 20m · thunderstorms
- Departure DelaysNov 4, 2026 · 1835Z (1:35 PM EST)lasted 5 min · wx:thunderstorms · avg delay 45 min
- Departure DelaysNov 4, 2026 · 1630Z (11:30 AM EST)lasted 2h · wx:thunderstorms · avg delay 45 min
- Ground StopNov 4, 2026 · 1606Z (11:06 AM EST)lasted 1h 54m · thunderstorms
- Departure DelaysNov 4, 2026 · 1555Z (10:55 AM EST)lasted 30 min · wx:thunderstorms · avg delay 45 min
- Ground StopNov 4, 2026 · 1545Z (10:45 AM EST)lasted 41 min · thunderstorms
- Ground StopOct 5, 2026 · 1152Z (7:52 AM EDT)lasted 34 min · equipment outage
- Departure DelaysOct 4, 2026 · 2015Z (4:15 PM EDT)lasted 2h 25m · wx:thunderstorms · avg delay 60 min
- Departure DelaysOct 1, 2026 · 1320Z (9:20 AM EDT)lasted 50 min · wx:low visibility · avg delay 15 min
- Ground StopSep 30, 2026 · 1254Z (8:54 AM EDT)lasted 27 min · low ceilings
- Ground StopSep 22, 2026 · 1156Z (7:56 AM EDT)lasted 59 min · thunderstorms
- Departure DelaysSep 21, 2026 · 2305Z (7:05 PM EDT)lasted 3h 24m · wx:thunderstorms · avg delay 23 min
- Ground Delay ProgramSep 11, 2026 · 2206Z (6:06 PM EDT)lasted 3h 50m · thunderstorms · avg delay 107 min
Durations are the time the FAA kept the event listed. Log complete from 2026-09-22; older rows are the last event of each type seen by the ATIS Alerts bot since 2026-07-22.
How often is ATL delayed?
Airline on-time performance at ATL, Jun 2025 to May 2026, from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
317,090 scheduled airline arrivals and 317,109 departures in the period. Best month: Sep 2025 (90.2% on time); worst: Jun 2025 (73.3%). 23% of arrival delay minutes were charged to weather or the National Airspace System, the categories a ground stop or ground delay program falls under.
On-time arrivals by month
Bar = share of arrivals within 15 minutes of schedule; largest month had 28,548 arrivals.
What caused the delays
- 39%Airline (crew, maintenance, ground handling)
- 38%Late-arriving aircraft
- 18%National Airspace System (ATC, volume, non-extreme weather)
- 5%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
Shares of delay minutes on arrivals 15+ minutes late, as reported by the carriers to the DOT.
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) Airline On-Time Performance (reporting carriers; regional, cargo, and general aviation flights are not included). Published about two months after each month ends.
Weather at KATL right now
Weather drives most ground stops: thunderstorms, low ceilings, wind and snow.
METAR KATL 070052Z 30010KT 10SM FEW250 18/08 A2998 RMK AO2 SLP148 T01780083
ATL ground stop FAQ
Is there a ground stop at ATL today?
No ground stop at ATL right now (as of 8:49 PM ET, Nov 6): the FAA lists no ground stop, ground delay program or delays for Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport. This page rechecks the FAA's NAS Status feed about every two minutes.
How do I know if ATL has a ground stop right now?
The banner at the top of this page reads the FAA's NAS Status feed about every two minutes. A red banner means the FAA currently lists a ground stop for Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta Intl; green means it does not. The official source is nasstatus.faa.gov.
How many ground stops has ATL had in the last year?
In the last 12 months the FAA issued 72 ground stops and 23 ground delay programs for ATL, most often for thunderstorms, holding flights on 56 days. Source: the FAA Command Center's advisory database (fly.faa.gov).
How long do ground stops at ATL last?
In the last 12 months the FAA issued 72 ground stops for ATL. The typical one lasted 1 h 29 min, and the middle half ran 1 h to 2 h 15 min. Ground delay programs run longer: 23 of them, typically 2 h 39 min with an average delay of 62 minutes.
Does a ground stop mean my flight is cancelled?
No. It means departures to ATL are held, not cancelled. Airlines cancel on their own when the backlog cannot be recovered, so watch your carrier's updates alongside this page.
⚠️ Informational only. FAA NAS Status is the authoritative source for delay programs; your airline or dispatch governs your flight. ATIS Alerts is not affiliated with the FAA.