Ground Stop Lifted at Harry Reid, Runways Reopen as Evening Flights Catch Up

LAS VEGAS · SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2026

The boards at Harry Reid International Airport finally started moving again on Sunday evening. The Federal Aviation Administration ground stop that had frozen Las Vegas's airport for much of the day was lifted and the closed runways reopened at 5:05 p.m. PT, News 3 reported and FOX5 reported, according to Vegas Daily Wire. It was the update thousands of stranded travelers had been refreshing for since late morning — even if nobody should expect the evening to run on time.

This is the follow-up to the breaking story Previously published earlier Sunday, the jet that left the runway and brought Harry Reid to a ground stop. That report covers the incident itself in full. This story is about what happened next: the reopening, the backlog, and a Sunday evening of catch-up at one of the busiest leisure airports in America.

How the day broke

Around 11 a.m. on Sunday, a Dassault Falcon 50 business jet — registration N200SG, with eight people aboard and bound for Toronto Pearson — aborted its takeoff on Runway 1L at Harry Reid, left the runway and contacted the airport's perimeter fence, airport officials said, according to the Associated Press. No one was injured, the FAA said, according to the Associated Press. Eight people, a fence, and no injuries: as runway excursions go, the human outcome could hardly have been better, even as the operational outcome was about to consume the airport's entire day.

Runways 1L and 1R were closed, the FAA issued a ground stop for Harry Reid, and the disruption then settled into the slower, grinding phase travelers know well: a ground delay program averaging 1 hour and 10 minutes, with maximum delays reaching 3 hours and 15 minutes, according to Vegas Daily Wire's reporting of the FAA program. Roughly 330 to 350 flights were delayed across the day, FlightAware data showed, according to FOX5 and reporting cited by Vegas Daily Wire.

Anyone who flies in and out of Las Vegas on a Sunday knows what that means in human terms. Sunday is getaway day and arrival day at once — bachelorette parties limping home, convention crowds rotating, locals returning from everywhere. A ground stop does not just delay airplanes; it strands a city's worth of weekend plans in two terminals, with every departure board in Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 turning into a negotiation.

5:05 p.m.: the stop lifts

The turn came at 5:05 p.m. PT, when the FAA ground stop was lifted and the runways reopened, News 3 reported and FOX5 reported, according to Vegas Daily Wire. Reopening a runway is not like flipping a switch back to normal, though. Aircraft and crews were out of position after hours of holds, and flights were still expected to run behind into Sunday evening as airlines worked through the backlog, according to Vegas Daily Wire.

Airport guidance through the evening remained the unglamorous advice that actually works: check your airline's app before leaving for the airport, expect your departure time to keep moving, and do not assume a posted time is final until your aircraft is physically at the gate, Vegas Daily Wire reported. On the arrivals side, pickup waves were expected at Terminals 1 and 3 as delayed flights landed in bunches — which means the usual Sunday-evening curb congestion, compressed. If you are collecting someone tonight, track the flight, not the original schedule, and give the cell-phone waiting lot a thought before circling.

What is still unknown

The FAA will investigate the runway excursion, and the cause has not yet been established, the Associated Press reported. An aborted takeoff that ends with an aircraft off the runway and against a perimeter fence will draw scrutiny of the aircraft, the crew's decisions in the final seconds of the takeoff roll, and the runway conditions — but none of that is known yet, and Previously is not going to speculate ahead of the investigators. What is known is the outcome that matters most: eight people aboard, no injuries, according to the Associated Press.

There is also the airport's own review to come. Harry Reid closed two runways, absorbed a ground stop and a delay program averaging more than an hour, and still turned the field around in time for an evening push, according to Vegas Daily Wire's reporting of the reopening. For an airport that lives on tight Sunday turnarounds, that recovery — messy, delayed, but complete — is the operational story of the day.

For travelers, the practical story continues tonight: delays into the evening, shifting departure times, and busy pickup curbs at both terminals. For the full account of the incident itself, read our original breaking report on the runway excursion and ground stop, and check the News desk for any further updates from the airport or the FAA.

There is a rhythm to an airport recovery, and Las Vegas knows it well. First the trickle: the earliest released departures pushing back, the first arrivals in hours taxiing to gates that have been waiting empty. Then the surge, as the evening banks compress into a shorter window and gates, crews and baggage belts all work double time. That is the phase Harry Reid entered on Sunday evening, according to Vegas Daily Wire, with the ground delay program’s average of 1 hour and 10 minutes still echoing through departure times long after the stop itself was lifted. Travelers were urged to check their airline apps rather than trust the morning’s schedule, and anyone heading to Terminals 1 and 3 for a pickup was warned to expect waves, according to Vegas Daily Wire.