FAA lifts brief ground stop at San Francisco International Airport

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration lifted a brief ground stop at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) that held up certain flights bound for the California city at their departure airports late on Sunday.

The ground stop applied to flights involving some Western U.S. air traffic control centers, according to an FAA notice that listed the duration of the ground stop as 9:53 p.m. to 11:15 p.m. PDT (0435 to 0615 GMT on Monday).

It was ultimately lifted slightly before the end of that period.

The airport did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

More than 54 million passengers traveled through SFO in 2025, according to its website. Many airlines operate from the airport, which is a United Airlines hub and offers many international flights to and from Asia in particular.

In March, the FAA said it would impose new safety restrictions at SFO that would limit some landings and lead to significant delays.

(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Thomas Derpinghaus and Jamie Freed)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published June 7, 2026 at 11:33 PM.