Austin airport loses power and cancels and delays flights
An airport in Texas has cancelled flights after losing power, causing chaos and frustrating travelers.
A power outage hit Austin-Bergstrom International Airport early this morning, forcing the airport to cancel flights.
The airport’s primary terminal lost power around 5am. Roads leading to and from the airport were closed for crews to investigate the cause of the outage, which led to major traffic on Texas Route 71.
Power began returning around 7am, but wasn’t fully restored for hours.
During the chaos, the airport directed customers to check the status of their flights at ticket counters. Videos posted on social media show travelers queuing in the nearly pitch-black early morning.
‘The roadways are now open and the ground stop which halted all flights has been lifted,’ the airport stated around 10am. ‘Please continue to check your flight status with your airline this morning & through today.’
Some travelers complained about rising temperature without air conditioning. By the time power was fully restored, it was nearly 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
A total of 85 flights were cancelled coming into or out of Austin-Bergstrom, according to flight tracker FlightAware. Another 70 were delayed.
Southwest Airlines passengers fared the worst. The airline cancelled 60 flights on Wednesday morning and delayed 25 more.
American Airlines passengers were also out of luck – the airline cancelled 17 flights in Austin and delayed 14.
Austin-Bergstrom is the primary airport for Texas’s capitol city. It sees about 350 flights per day.
The power outage was caused by ‘malfunctioning underground equipment’, Austin Energy said.
The company was still working on restoring power to a nearby hotel and parking garage, they said.
This latest incident comes after a chaotic summer for air travel around the world. In London, massive lines and flight cancellations have been blamed on staffing shortages, some which may have been exacerbated by Brexit.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.