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Atlanta airport power restored after outage cripples operations
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This file photo taken on May 17, 2016 shows passengers as thry wait to go through security at the north terminal of the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. The world's busiest airport, in the US city of Atlanta, said early on December 18, 2017 that power had been restored after an outage left passengers in the dark and affected hundreds of flights. (Agence France -Presse/Mladen ANTONOV)
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lectricity to Atlanta’s airport -- one of the world’s busiest -- was restored hours after an outage forced Delta Air Lines and other carriers to cancel over a thousand flights and divert many others.
The city’s Mayor Kasim Reed tweeted about the restoration, while the local utility in charge of the supply, Georgia Power, said in a statement Monday that all “essential activities” at the airport, including all concourses and flight operations, have power.
Update: All power has been fully restored. #atlairport
— Kasim Reed (@KasimReed) December 18, 2017
The electricity went out after 1 p.m. local time Sunday, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration to issue a stop on all flights heading to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Aircraft were held at their departure airports Sunday afternoon, and planes in the air were being diverted to other cities, the airport said.
It's almost like there are consequences to letting America's critical infrastructure decline to 3rd World levels.https://t.co/PPQ0sv0OXl
— John Schindler (@20committee) December 18, 2017
Atlanta-based Delta dropped a total of 900 mainline and regional flights because of the outage, and as of 7:15 p.m., it had scrapped the rest on its Sunday schedule out of the city. Georgia Power said a fire caused “extensive damage” in an underground facility, though no passengers or workers were in any danger.
In a Sunday night press conference, Mayor Reed said the intensity of the fire damaged the switch that would have allowed the built-in backup power systems to take over. Complicating matters further, the heat and fumes in the underground tunnels prevented Georgia Power crews from starting work on repairs for some time and lengthened the outage, he said.
There is “no evidence to suggest the fire was caused deliberately,” Reed said.
Not only is the Atlanta airport shut down, but they've blocked all access for people to pick up the stranded and are forcing the stranded to pay MARTA for the privilege of being released from the airport.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) December 18, 2017
Delta was working to get passengers off aircraft on the ground that were unable to park at Hartsfield-Jackson’s gates because of the electrical failure, the company said in a statement on its website earlier. Delta expects to operate a “near-full” schedule on Monday.
Southwest Airlines said it canceled about 70 flights out of Atlanta, out of about 120 total scheduled departures on Sunday. Flight tracking service FlightAware reported 1,099 flights to or from Atlanta had been canceled as of 7:15 p.m.
Late Sunday, the Atlanta Police Department had dispatched extra officers to help with crowd control at Hartsfield-Jackson and handle traffic around the airport, APD Officer Lisa Bender said in an email. Lighting inside the facility was limited, Delta spokesman Michael Thomas said.
At one point Sunday, Delta had as many as 100 planes that were unable to park at gates, Thomas said. The airline used portable staircases to unload passengers from some planes, while there were built-in staircases in the rear of other aircraft, he said.
