Is there a ground stop at PHL today?
No ground stop at PHL right now (as of 4:54 PM ET, Nov 6): the FAA lists no ground stop, ground delay program or delays for Philadelphia International Airport. In the last 12 months the FAA issued 53 ground stops and 41 ground delay programs for PHL, most often for thunderstorms, holding flights on 54 days.
Live FAA delay status for Philadelphia International Airport (KPHL, Philadelphia, PA): ground stops, ground delay programs and delays right now, what the FAA has listed for PHL recently, and how often flights here actually run late.
No: the FAA is not reporting a ground stop at PHL right now.
FAA NAS Status lists no ground stop, ground delay program, or delay event for Philadelphia Intl. Checked Nov 6, 2026 · 2154Z (4:54 PM EST); this page refreshes about every two minutes.
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Why PHL gets delayed
Philadelphia is a summer-storm airport. Thunderstorms caused 63% of the 96 FAA programs for PHL in the 12 months to October 2026, and August, July and June were the three worst months. The timing is tight: 81% of PHL's ground delay programs started between 2 and 6 PM, as afternoon storms built along the I-95 corridor.
A typical PHL ground delay program ran 5 h 6 min with an average delay of 78 minutes, and the big storm days ran much longer: a 12 h 18 min program on July 28, 2026 and a 10 h 14 min ground stop on July 18. Equipment outages caused 8% of programs. In BTS data, late-arriving aircraft caused 47% of PHL delay minutes, more than any other cause.
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 PHL delays usually last
Every FAA ground stop and ground delay program for PHL from Nov 6, 2025 to Nov 5, 2026, rebuilt from the FAA Command Center's own advisories.
Ground delay programs
41Ground stops
53Flights to PHL were held by at least one FAA program on 54 days in the last year. 59% of the stops and programs began between 2 PM and 6 PM local time.
What triggered them
PHL ground stops and delay programs by month
| Month | Ground stops | Delay programs | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 2025 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| January 2026 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| February 2026 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| March 2026 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| April 2026 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| May 2026 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| June 2026 | 10 | 6 | 16 |
| July 2026 | 9 | 10 | 19 |
| August 2026 | 15 | 11 | 26 |
| September 2026 | 8 | 3 | 11 |
| October 2026 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| November 2026 to dateplus Nov 6-30, 2025 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
The busiest month was August, with 26 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 PHL, rebuilt daily by ATIS Alerts.
Best time of day to fly out of PHL
Airline departures scheduled before 9 AM left on time 88% of the time, against 65% for those scheduled 6 to 9 PM. By weekday, Wednesday was the most reliable (81%) and Sunday the least (72%). BTS on-time data, June 2025 to May 2026; on time = within 15 minutes.
Recent FAA events at PHL
Ground stops and delay programs the FAA has listed for PHL in the last 90 days, from ATIS Alerts' own log of FAA NAS Status.
- Departure DelaysNov 6, 2026 · 1400Z (9:00 AM EST)lasted 7h 45m · tm initiatives:swap:wx · avg delay 120 min
- Departure DelaysNov 5, 2026 · 1425Z (9:25 AM EST)lasted 1h 35m · tm initiatives:mit:vol · avg delay 15 min
- Departure DelaysNov 5, 2026 · 1415Z (9:15 AM EST)lasted 5 min · tm initiatives:mit:vol · avg delay 15 min
- Departure DelaysNov 1, 2026 · 1505Z (10:05 AM EST)lasted 25 min · tm initiatives:mit:staffing · avg delay 30 min
- Departure DelaysOct 28, 2026 · 1505Z (11:05 AM EDT)lasted 25 min · rwy:maintenance · avg delay 15 min
- Departure DelaysOct 23, 2026 · 2245Z (6:45 PM EDT)lasted 30 min · vol:compacted demand · avg delay 15 min
- Departure DelaysOct 23, 2026 · 0140Z (9:40 PM EDT)lasted 10 min · vol:volume · avg delay 15 min
- Departure DelaysOct 20, 2026 · 1345Z (9:45 AM EDT)lasted 50 min · vol:compacted demand · avg delay 15 min
- Departure DelaysOct 19, 2026 · 1345Z (9:45 AM EDT)lasted 1h 30m · vol:compacted demand · avg delay 15 min
- Departure DelaysOct 16, 2026 · 2205Z (6:05 PM EDT)lasted 6h · tm initiatives:swap:wx · avg delay 90 min
- Ground StopOct 16, 2026 · 2050Z (4:50 PM EDT)lasted 1h 10m · thunderstorms
- Ground Delay ProgramOct 16, 2026 · 1800Z (2:00 PM EDT)lasted 6h 21m · thunderstorms · avg delay 57 min
- Departure DelaysOct 16, 2026 · 1405Z (10:05 AM EDT)lasted 2h 35m · wx:thunderstorms · avg delay 30 min
- Ground Delay ProgramOct 11, 2026 · 2000Z (4:00 PM EDT)lasted 5h 1m · low ceilings · avg delay 66 min
- Departure DelaysOct 10, 2026 · 1310Z (9:10 AM EDT)lasted 25 min · other:emergency · avg delay 15 min
- Departure DelaysOct 5, 2026 · 1445Z (10:45 AM EDT)lasted 1h 5m · rwy:maintenance · avg delay 30 min
- Ground Delay ProgramOct 4, 2026 · 1800Z (2:00 PM EDT)lasted 7h 56m · low ceilings · avg delay 82 min
- Departure DelaysOct 2, 2026 · 2200Z (6:00 PM EDT)lasted 2h 50m · wx:thunderstorms · avg delay 60 min
- Ground StopSep 28, 2026 · 1158Z (7:58 AM EDT)lasted 1h 13m · low ceilings
- Ground Delay ProgramSep 27, 2026 · 2000Z (4:00 PM EDT)lasted 4h 6m · wind · avg delay 48 min
- Departure DelaysSep 27, 2026 · 1340Z (9:40 AM EDT)lasted 55 min · wx:low ceilings · avg delay 30 min
- Departure DelaysSep 26, 2026 · 1450Z (10:50 AM EDT)lasted 1h 55m · tm initiatives:mit:staffing · avg delay 15 min
- Departure DelaysSep 26, 2026 · 1340Z (9:40 AM EDT)lasted 15 min · tm initiatives:mit:staffing · avg delay 15 min
- Ground StopSep 21, 2026 · 1952Z (3:52 PM EDT)lasted 1h 9m · equipment outage
- Ground Delay ProgramSep 21, 2026 · 1628Z (12:28 PM EDT)lasted 6h 21m · equipment outage · avg delay 212 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 PHL delayed?
Airline on-time performance at PHL, Jun 2025 to May 2026, from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
98,773 scheduled airline arrivals and 98,786 departures in the period. Best month: Apr 2026 (81.8% on time); worst: Jul 2025 (65.5%). 19% 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 9,304 arrivals.
What caused the delays
- 47%Late-arriving aircraft
- 34%Airline (crew, maintenance, ground handling)
- 15%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 KPHL right now
Weather drives most ground stops: thunderstorms, low ceilings, wind and snow.
METAR KPHL 062054Z 27007KT 10SM -RA FEW013 BKN055 BKN090 BKN130 17/16 A2985 RMK AO2 RAB50 SLP107 P0000 60010 T01720156 55002 $
PHL ground stop FAQ
Is there a ground stop at PHL today?
No ground stop at PHL right now (as of 4:54 PM ET, Nov 6): the FAA lists no ground stop, ground delay program or delays for Philadelphia International Airport. This page rechecks the FAA's NAS Status feed about every two minutes.
How do I know if PHL 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 Philadelphia Intl; green means it does not. The official source is nasstatus.faa.gov.
How many ground stops has PHL had in the last year?
In the last 12 months the FAA issued 53 ground stops and 41 ground delay programs for PHL, most often for thunderstorms, holding flights on 54 days. Source: the FAA Command Center's advisory database (fly.faa.gov).
How long do ground stops at PHL last?
In the last 12 months the FAA issued 53 ground stops for PHL. The typical one lasted 1 h 28 min, and the middle half ran 1 h 12 min to 3 h 5 min. Ground delay programs run longer: 41 of them, typically 5 h 17 min with an average delay of 78 minutes.
Does a ground stop mean my flight is cancelled?
No. It means departures to PHL 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.