WASHINGTON: Airports serving Washington, D.C., Baltimore and some cities in Virginia briefly halted all flights Friday evening because of what federal authorities said was a strong chemical smell at the flight center that controls traffic into the airports.
According to a spokesperson with the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily stopped traffic at at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Charlottesville–Albemarle Airport and Richmond International Airport because of a the chemical odor at the Potomac TRACON.
The TRACON is a terminal radar approach control facility that manages air traffic for those regions, according to the FAA website.
FAA spokeswoman Kristen Alsop said Friday that controllers were coming back to work and normal flight operations should return to normal soon.
Baltimore-Washington International Airport said in a post on the social platform X that the FAA’s ground stop impacting flights to and from the airport had been lifted, but that “some residual flight delays can be expected this evening.”
