ORLANDO, Fla. — UPDATE 8:30 p.m.
The FAA said arrivals will be halted at Orlando International Airport (OIA) late Thursday due to a staffing shortage.
The FAA advisory said there will be no available certified air traffic controllers at OIA.
Members of the FAA union confirmed the issue stemmed from a shortage at OIA’s Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), which also guides planes for the other airports in the region like Melbourne and Sanford.
More information will be released as the situation progresses.
Original story:
Departing aircraft at Orlando International Airport are being held back because of a staffing shortage, according to the Federal Aviation Administration’s National Airspace System Status page.
The average delay experienced is 161 minutes, or more than two and a half hours. The maximum possible delay is nearly 12 hours.
The advisory lasts until 3 a.m. Friday.
Staffing shortages have been impacting more and more airports as the government shutdown drags to the one-month mark.
It was not immediately clear that this shortage was directly tied to the shutdown, however, other airports like Teterboro, Washington Reagan and Dallas were also experiencing delays.
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
©2025 Cox Media Group
