Incoming and outgoing flights at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport were halted indefinitely as crews worked to restore power, leading to hundreds of flight delays and cancellations.
Atlanta is the heart of the US air transport system, and what happens there has the potential to ripple through the country. People used flashlights on their phones to see where they were going, said passenger Heather Kerwin, an Atlanta resident.
“There were a few emergency lights on, but it was really dark — felt totally apocalyptic,” she said. “I decided to get the hell out of there.”Brittny Dettro said she was waiting to board a flight from Atlanta to Milwaukee when the power went out in Terminal B. She shot this image at 1:10 p.m. ET.
The outage left passengers sitting in planes on the tarmac for hours. Jodi Green’s Delta flight from the Bahamas landed at 1:15 p.m. ET Sunday. As of 4 p.m. she was still on the plane.
The ground stop led Southwest Airlines to cancel all operations in and out of Atlanta for the rest of the day, spokesman Brian Parrish said. Customers are being offered re-bookings without fare differences, he said.
Delta canceled more than 450 Delta mainline and regional flights as a result of the ground stop, the airline said in a statement. Delta is working to deplane customers from aircrafts that have not been able to park at a gate due to the outage.
Georgia Power has confirmed they have crews in the field working to determine the cause of the problem. The outage affects all airport operations, spokesman Reese McCranie said. The airport is currently working with Georgia Power to figure out the cause of the outage, he said.
Atlanta is the largest hub for Delta Air Lines. The airline told passengers to check the status of their flights. “Delta is aware of a power outage at the Atlanta Airport affecting airport concourses and terminal buildings,” spokesman Michael Thomas told CNN.
“Flight disruptions are expected as a result and Delta customers are encouraged check the status of their flight via the Fly Delta Mobile App or Delta.com. More updates to follow.”
