Austin-Bergstrom International Airport was forced to issue a temporary ground stop for flights from multiple destinations due to air-traffic control staffing issues.
The initial ground stop occurred around 11:00a local time and affected inbound flights from both Houston area airports (Bush-Intercontinental and Hobby) as well as Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY). This primarily affected Southwest Airlines and United Airlines flights into Austin.
This ground stop was later extended to include Dallas area airspace, halting flights from Dallas Love Field (DAL) and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). Once again, Southwest flights were affected along with American Airlines.
Travel Alert: The FAA's temporary Ground Stop for arriving flights has been extended to the Dallas air space. Arriving flights from DFW and DAL will be affected. https://t.co/tUMnoL9y1U
— Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (@AustinAirport) March 21, 2025
The ground stop for both Dallas and Houston airspace lasted a little over an hour with flights being allowed to resume just after 12:00p local time. Given the number of flights between Dallas an Houston on American, Southwest, and United and the gate constrained nature of the Austin Airport, I would expect to see some minor, but lingering, delays throughout the remainder of the day.
While ground stops happen all of the time for a variety of different reasons (weather, congestion, etc.) it’s not often you see a ground stop related to ATC staffing. The Austin Airport has struggled with its air traffic controller staffing for some time now and things like the ground stop are showing cracks in the strained system.
News of this issue likely won’t get much play across travel media but, being based in Austin, it is unfortunate to see the airport constrained by these issues as it looks to grow. Hopefully its ATC staffing issues can be resolved and we can go back to worrying about how long the TSA lines are.
Summary
A ground stop was issued earlier today for flights from Dallas and Houston airspace into Austin-Bergstrom International airport due to ATC staffing issues. While this issue was resolved quickly, it speaks volumes about the current staffing levels at the airport given the amount of service it is currently seeing. That number is expected to grow with the opening of the midfield concourse in the coming years.