Power outage at Atlanta airport causes 'pandemonium,' grounds flights

[link to www.foxnews.com]


Blackout grounds all flights out of Atlanta airport
Eric Shawn has the story.

A complete power outage at the nation’s busiest airport, the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, grounded flights Sunday afternoon, threatening to cause a holiday travel nightmare for fliers across the country just over a week before Christmas.

Georgia Power said that repairs are "well underway" at the airport and power is expected to be restored around midnight on Sunday.

ga airport outage 2
A massive power outage at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has grounded flights Sunday afternoon. (Instagram/chefforhire82)

Airport officials said in a news release the power outage has forced the Federal Aviation Administration to suspend outgoing flights and implement a "ground stop" for incoming flights, which "means that flights headed to Atlanta are held on the ground at their departure airport."

International flights will be diverted to land at other airports, U.S. Customs and Border Protection tweeted.

According to FlightAware.com, 1,073 flights have been canceled at Hartsfield-Jackson as of 7:05 p.m. ET.

Officials with the Atlanta Police Department told WSB-TV the airport is evacuating travelers inside.


A spokesperson told The Associated Press that no areas outside the airport were affected by the outage. However, flights at Chicago airports O'Hare International and Midway both have canceled flights — but it's not yet clear if they were canceled due to Atlanta's outage.

Delta Airlines, which has its headquarters at the airport, said more than 450 mainline and regional flights were cancelled. The airlines encouraged passengers to check on the status of flights via the Fly Delta mobile app or delta.com before heading to the airport.

About 70 of 120 Southwest Airlines flights out of Atlanta were canceled, while an American Airlines spokesperson said three of the carrier's flights have been diverted and there have been "a couple of cancellations."

This is NOT confirmed. We are working with @GeorgiaPower to identify and fix ASAP.