Flights in and out of Nashville International Airport slowed to a crawl on Saturday after a power outage hit the airport's air-traffic control tower, triggering a formal ground delay and a lot of unexpected quality time in the terminal for travelers.
Airport officials said the terminal itself kept power the whole time while technicians and Federal Aviation Administration staff worked to bring the tower systems back online. In the meantime, arrivals were stretched out, departures were throttled, and airlines scrambled to rebook connections and reset departure times.
FAA issues ground delay at BNA
The Federal Aviation Administration's airport status page listed a "Ground Delay" at BNA on Saturday with an average holdup of about 1 hour and 38 minutes, according to the FAA. The delay program allowed some flights to continue, but on a much tighter schedule than usual.
Local coverage from WSMV reported that the outage was limited to the air traffic control facility, not the rest of the airport. FAA staff were working inside the tower to restore power and equipment while controllers managed traffic under the tighter ground-delay rules.
BNA's recent traffic headaches
This latest slowdown fits into a rough stretch for BNA in 2026, with a mix of controller staffing issues and stormy weather already triggering multiple traffic-management measures. A previous Hoodline report on a sudden arrival slowdown described how staffing shortages forced the airport to sharply cut back incoming flights earlier this year.
Separate reporting from NewsChannel 5 detailed a ground stop tied to staffing problems that also rippled through the airport's schedule in recent months. Saturday's tower outage is the latest twist in that ongoing pattern of stop-and-go operations.
What travelers should do
For anyone headed to or from BNA, the drill is familiar by now: keep a close eye on airline alerts and official status pages. When a ground delay is active, it is the airlines that decide which flights get canceled, which are delayed, and how passengers are rebooked.
The FAA advises travelers to check its live status tools at fly.faa.gov for current advisories and airport programs. Airport officials, as relayed by WSMV, urged passengers to confirm their flight status directly with their airline before heading to the airport.
Normal operations are expected to resume once power and equipment in the tower are fully restored and controllers can handle the usual flow of traffic. The FAA will update the ground-delay status as conditions change, and we will update this story once officials lift the delay.
