A strong chemical smell at a communications center that affected air traffic controllers resulted in major delays at three major airports serving Washington, D.C., and Baltimore on Friday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Flight traffic was stopped around 4:50 p.m. at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport and Baltimore-Washington International Airport, according to the F.A.A.’s website.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on social media that Richmond International Airport was also affected.
After several hours, F.A.A.-issued ground stops turned into ground delays and flights slowly started to take off again. Mr. Duffy said on social media around 9 p.m. that airport operations had resumed.
The ground stops were initially issued because of a “strong chemical smell at the Potomac TRACON that is impacting some air traffic controllers,” an F.A.A. representative said in an email, referring to a regional center in Warrenton, Va., that directs traffic headed to and from the Washington area.
The odor at the center was traced to a circuit board that overheated, Mr. Duffy said. The circuit board has been replaced.
Emergency responders confirmed that there was no danger to air traffic controllers, Mr. Duffy said, and workers were returning to the center as of 9 p.m.
The ground delays were expected to last until midnight at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and until 1 a.m. at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, according to the F.A.A. The Dulles and Richmond airports were no longer experiencing ground delays, the F.A.A. said on its website.
Dulles warned that passengers can expect residual cancellations and delays on its website.
Arrivals and departures to the Baltimore-Washington International Airport were delayed by about two hours, according to the F.A.A.
Departure and arrival delays at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were about three hours, according to the F.A.A.
Grace Wilkins Maxwell was on her plane at Washington Dulles International Airport to Louisville, Ky., for about an hour before passengers disembarked.
Passengers were at the gate, charging their phones and waiting for news, Mrs. Maxwell said. “I’m not convinced anyone is leaving D.C. tonight,” she said.
She was trying to get to Louisville to pick up her dog, Browser, a Brussels Griffon, who was in a dog show this week.
Mrs. Maxwell, who is from Richmond, Va., was going to wait a few hours and then possibly take a train home, she said.
Many unhappy passengers waited at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Friday night. The board displaying departure information became more red as flights went from “delayed” to “canceled.”
Maureen Dewey, 60, who was en route to Hartford, Conn., with her family, learned her flight was canceled after the plane was fully boarded.
After waiting for more than two hours for her luggage, she didn’t know what might happen next.
“The biggest issue I see is the lack of communication from the airlines,” she said. “Nobody has been down here telling us what’s going on. Nobody knows what’s going on.”
Adam Sella and Hannah Ziegler contributed reporting.
Rylee Kirk reports on breaking news, trending topics and major developing stories for The Times.
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