Atlanta airport power restored, but many still stranded at world’s busiest airport
A sudden power outage brought Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, world’s busiest airport to a standstill on Sunday.
The power outage brought grounded more than 1,000 flights in the United States just days before the start of the Christmas travel rush.
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta lost power shortly after 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, leaving passengers trapped inside airport terminals and some of the planes on the tarmac for hours.
The outage halted all outgoing flights, and arriving planes were held on the ground at their point of departure. International flights were being diverted.
According to sources, more than 450 mainline and regional flights were cancelled. The airline encouraged passengers to check on the status of flights via the Fly Delta mobile app or delta.com before heading to the airport.
According to Georgia Power electricity was back in the airport’s atrium and several concourses, just after midnight however it took almost 12 hours before electricity was fully restored.
The city later opened its convention centre for stranded passengers and was providing bus service to get there. Fast food chain Chick-fil-A was donating food.
Georgia Power said in a statement that a fire in an underground electrical facility may have been responsible for the outage, the reason behind the fire was not known.
No areas outside of the airport were affected by the power loss. The utility said that there are “many redundant systems in place” to ensure the power supply to the airport and such outages at the airport are very rare.
Airport officials said People are being really calm and cool about it just because we realize it’s not the airline’s fault.
According to the airport, Hartsfield-Jackson serves approximately 275,000 passengers and averages 2,500 flight arrivals and departures every day.