Power Outage Hits Atlanta Airport During Busy Holiday Season

Flights are delayed
By Reuters
December 17, 2017 Last Updated: December 17, 2017
The Atlanta's airport is pictured during the power outage, in Atlanta, U.S., December 17, 2017 in this picture obtained from social media. INSTAGRAM/@APLINETREEE/via REUTERS

Flights were delayed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Sunday after a partial power outage, officials said, leaving passengers at the world’s busiest airport stranded in dim terminals.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it was forced to hold back flights bound for Atlanta, while departures from the airport were also delayed and some planes were held at the tarmac.

International flights to Hartsfield were diverted to other Atlanta-area airports, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said on Twitter.

 The FAA flight control tower was operating normally, but departures were delayed because airport equipment in the terminals was not working, the FAA said in a statement.

The cause of the outage was not immediately known, according to the airport and Georgia Power, which provides electricity to the sprawling facility. The utility had crews at the airport, spokesman John Kraft said.

Photos posted on social media showed passengers sitting in partial darkness in one terminal.

“Stuck on a plane at Atlanta Airport as the power is out there … bedlam inside and boredom out here!” Twitter user Jack Harris wrote.

“Traveling is fun until an airport loses power and you’ve been sitting on a plane waiting to take off for an hour,” Mitch Jecklin wrote on Twitter.

 A Delta Air Lines pilot told passengers a construction crew cut a power line, causing the outage, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Airport and Delta officials could not be reached immediately for comment on the report.