Ground stop lifted at San Diego International Airport: what this means

Video above: This FOX 5/KUSI video details the local weather forecast for Friday, April 11, 2025.

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A ground stop was activated at San Diego International Airport (SAN) Friday morning due to low ceiling cloud cover, an airport representative confirmed.

According to the National Business Aviation Association, ground stops are implemented “when air traffic control is unable to safely accommodate additional aircraft in the system.” When they are initiated, air traffic controllers must decide what flights will be impacted.

In this case, the ground stop was ordered amid a Dense Fog Advisory for coastal San Diego County, which will remain in effect until 9 a.m. on Friday. This marks the second consecutive day that foggy weather conditions have affected air travel in and out of SAN.

This type of weather advisory is issued by the National Weather Service when widespread dense fog develops. During these instances, visibility can drop to one-quarter mile or less, which makes for tricky conditions for travel — both air and ground.

On Thursday, over 140 flight delays were reported as of 9:40 am, according to real-time flight tracking platform FlightAware. With the ground stop on Friday, there were around 120 delays reported at SAN by 9:30 a.m. There were also at least eight cancellations.

At noon, an airport spokesperson confirmed that the ground stop has since been lifted.

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