By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Published: 17:46 GMT, 20 January 2026 | Updated: 18:50 GMT, 20 January 2026

A major control tower at Chicago O'Hare International Airport has gone offline on Tuesday, triggering a wave of flight delays that are rippling across the US.

The outage has forced air traffic officials to implement a nationwide delay program that now includes 20 US airspace regions.

That means a significant portion of the country’s airspace is being impacted, with departures from multiple major airports experiencing delays.

Air traffic centers in regions including New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Washington DC, Houston, Miami, Denver and Seattle are among those listed as affected, according to official air traffic messages.

With the Chicago tower offline, flights are being held on the ground before takeoff, while air traffic control works to manage the backlog. Passengers at the airport should expect delays of around 60 minutes.

Passengers have reported long waits and sudden schedule changes, as airlines adjust departure times and reroute flights to minimize congestion.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has confirmed the issue is due to equipment failure, which has disrupted normal tower communications and operations.

However, a passenger on a flight to Chicago from New Mexico told CBS News that a pipe burst in the control tower sparked the tower closure.