Flights halted at Washington DC airports after chemical smell

A control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., February 14, 2026. (REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon/File Photo)

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it stopped traffic at the three primary Washington-area airports on Friday after air traffic controllers at a Virginia facility had to halt work because of a strong chemical smell.

Airborne flights were diverting and aircraft on the ground were being held in place, said Flightradar24, a flight tracking site. The issue was snarling traffic during the busy U.S. spring break travel period.

The FAA said the issue disrupted operations at Potomac Consolidated Terminal RADAR Approach Control, which controls airspace over numerous airports in the Washington region and had forced the agency to stop traffic at Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, Baltimore-Washington International Airport and Richmond International Airport.

Airlines told Reuters the FAA was relocating Potomac controllers to a training facility. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X the FAA was working "to address the source of a strong odor coming from Potomac TRACON that is impacting operations."

Controllers will have reduced radar scopes so more delays are likely once the ground stops are lifted if they relocate to the training facility, airline officials said.

Delays were impacting more than 325 flights, or 34% of arriving and departing flights at Reagan, about 25%, or 180 flights at Baltimore and more than 200 flights at Dulles, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking site.

(Reporting by David Shepardson, Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward in Washington; editing by Scott Malone, Rosalba O'Brien and Diane Craft)