Airport Delays Today: FAA Ground Stops & METAR/TAF Weather

This airport delays tracker gives you live US airport disruption data straight from the FAA: ground stops, ground delay programs, arrival and departure delays, closures and airspace flow programs. Add METAR and TAF aviation weather for any airport in the world, and turn on monitor mode to get only what changed since your last run (new, updated, and cleared events, e.g. "the SFO ground stop was lifted").

No API key, no login, no scraping of commercial flight trackers. Both sources are official US government feeds.

What data can you get on airport delays

• Every active FAA program for the US National Airspace System, or only for the airports you list.
• Ground stops with reason, end time, ARTCC center, included facilities, probability of extension and the FAA advisory link.
• Ground delay programs with average and maximum delay in minutes.
• Arrival / departure delays with min/max minutes and trend (increasing / decreasing).
• Closures and NOTAM notices with full NOTAM text and reopen time. Full closures are closure. Partial closures and restrictions (e.g. "closed to non-scheduled transient GA aircraft") are notice, so they don't flag an airport as disrupted.
• Optional: runway configuration and arrival rate, deicing status.
• Weather row per airport: flight category (VFR/MVFR/IFR/LIFR), wind and gusts, visibility, ceiling, present weather, clouds, raw METAR, plus an optional TAF (raw text and decoded periods). Each weather row also says whether the FAA reports a disruption at that airport (faaStatus).
• Monitor mode (onlyChanges): each row has change = new | updated | cleared. Timestamps-only refreshes are ignored, so you are not billed for noise. Schedule it every 5 to 15 minutes and connect a webhook, Slack or Sheets.
• Codes the way you have them: SFO, KSFO, HNL, PHNL, SJU, TJSJ, or a foreign ICAO code like EGLL (weather only).
• Reliable: the FAA JSON feed is read first and the FAA XML feed fills gaps (and stands in if the JSON feed is down). Problems are listed in the NOTES record, never hidden. If every source fails, the run fails and nothing is charged.

How to check airport delays today

List the airports you care about (for example SFO, JFK), or leave Airports empty to see every US airport with an active FAA event right now. Add current weather (METAR) and forecast (TAF) if you want it. To get alerts, turn on Only changes since my last run (monitor) and schedule the Actor every 5 to 15 minutes.

Input

{
  "airports": ["SFO", "JFK", "ORD", "ATL", "DEN"],
  "includeFaa": true,
  "eventTypes": ["ground_stop", "ground_delay", "arrival_delay", "departure_delay", "closure", "airspace_flow"],
  "includeMetar": true,
  "includeTaf": false,
  "onlyChanges": false,
  "maxRows": 1000
}

Leave airports empty to get every US airport that has an active FAA event right now (weather needs a list of airports).

Output

FAA event row:

{
  "rowType": "faa_event", "change": null, "eventType": "ground_stop",
  "airport": "SFO", "icao": "KSFO", "airportName": "San Francisco International", "latitude": 37.6213, "longitude": -122.379,
  "reason": "low ceilings", "avgDelayMinutes": null, "minDelayMinutes": null, "maxDelayMinutes": null, "trend": null,
  "startTime": "2026-10-19T03:00:00Z", "endTime": "2026-10-19T04:15:00Z", "center": "ZOA",
  "advisoryUrl": "https://www.fly.faa.gov/adv/adv_otherdis.jsp?advn=10&...", "probabilityOfExtension": "MEDIUM",
  "includedFacilities": ["ZLA", "ZLC", "ZOA", "ZSE"], "notamText": null,
  "faaUpdatedAt": "2026-10-19T03:03:19Z", "source": "faa-json", "fetchedAt": "2026-10-19T03:20:00Z"
}

Weather row:

{
  "rowType": "weather", "change": null, "airport": "SFO", "icao": "KSFO", "airportName": "San Francisco Intl, CA, US",
  "latitude": 37.6196, "longitude": -122.3656, "observedAt": "2026-10-19T02:56:00Z", "flightCategory": "MVFR",
  "temperatureC": 15, "dewpointC": 11.1, "windDirectionDeg": 280, "windSpeedKt": 12, "windGustKt": null,
  "visibilityMiles": "10+", "altimeterHpa": 1016, "weather": null, "clouds": "SCT012 BKN016", "ceilingFt": 1600,
  "rawMetar": "METAR KSFO 190256Z 28012KT 10SM SCT012 BKN016 15/11 A3000 RMK AO2 SLP159 T01500111 53005 $",
  "tafIssuedAt": "2026-10-19T02:59:00.000Z", "tafValidFrom": "2026-10-19T03:00:00Z", "tafValidTo": "2026-10-20T06:00:00Z",
  "rawTaf": "TAF KSFO 190259Z 1903/2006 28015KT P6SM BKN015 FM191600 28015G25KT P6SM FEW015 FM200400 24005KT P6SM SCT015",
  "tafForecast": [{"from": "2026-10-19T03:00:00Z", "to": "2026-10-19T16:00:00Z", "change": null, "windDirectionDeg": 280,
                   "windSpeedKt": 15, "visibilityMiles": "6+", "weather": null, "clouds": "BKN015", "ceilingFt": 1500}],
  "faaStatus": "delays or closures active", "faaActiveEvents": ["ground_stop"],
  "source": "aviationweather.gov", "fetchedAt": "2026-10-19T03:20:00Z"
}

All rows of a type always have the same fields (missing values are null). In monitor mode a cleared row repeats the last known values of the event that ended.

Use cases

• Travel apps and chatbots: "Is my airport delayed, and why?"
• Logistics, ground transport, hotels, crew scheduling: react to ground stops and delay programs early.
• Alerting: scheduled monitor that posts new and lifted ground stops to Slack, email or a webhook.
• Analytics: build your own history of FAA delay programs and weather by running it on a schedule.

Limits (honest)

• FAA data covers US airports only and only what the FAA publishes as delay programs. It does not give individual flight status, airline cancellations or gate delays. Quiet hours (often at night) can legitimately return zero FAA events.
• The FAA NAS Status endpoints are public but not formally documented and can change without notice. Unknown new sections are passed through in details and reported in NOTES.
• Arrival/departure delays are FAA 15-minute buckets, not exact averages.
• Weather comes from aviationweather.gov (NOAA). Small airports may have no TAF, and some have no METAR.
• Airspace flow programs are not tied to one airport, so they are returned only when airports is empty.
• Monitor memory is tied to your airport list and settings (or to monitorId). The first monitor run returns everything as new.

Data sources

• FAA National Airspace System Status, https://nasstatus.faa.gov (US government work, public domain).
• NOAA / NWS Aviation Weather Center, https://aviationweather.gov (public domain, per https://www.weather.gov/disclaimer).

This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the FAA, NOAA or the NWS. The data is not official material, and it is not for operational flight planning or navigation.

How much does it cost

Pay per event: a small fee per delivered row (FAA event or weather row), plus the standard start fee. In monitor mode you only pay for rows that changed.

FAQ

How are airport delays today?

Run the Actor with Airports empty. You get every US airport that has an active FAA ground stop, ground delay program, arrival or departure delay, or closure at that moment. No rows can also be a good sign: quiet hours often have none.

What is a ground stop?

A ground stop is an FAA program that holds flights bound for an airport on the ground at their origin for a set period, usually because of weather, volume or equipment problems. Each row gives the reason, end time and probability of extension.

What is a ground delay program?

A ground delay program spaces out departures to an airport so arrivals stay within capacity. Rows show the average and maximum delay in minutes.

Does it show individual flight delays or cancellations?

No. It covers airport-level FAA programs and weather. It does not give individual flight status, airline cancellations or gate delays.

Does it cover airports outside the US?

Weather (METAR and TAF) works for airports worldwide with an ICAO code such as EGLL. FAA delay programs cover US airports only.

Is there an airport delays map?

There is no built-in map. Each row has latitude and longitude, so you can plot the results in your own map or dashboard.

Do I need an API key?

No. Both sources are official US government feeds.

Related tools

• Send Data to Slack, Discord, Email, Notion & Postgres: send new and cleared ground stops to Slack, Discord or Notion.
• Google Sheets Import & Export: log delay programs to a Google Sheet.
• Google Hotels Prices: hotel rates by date for trip planning.