A power outage at Austin's main airport plunged passengers into darkness for over an hour and led to delayed and canceled flights
Courtesy of Lance Romigh
- Austin Airport is delaying and canceling flights following a power outage Wednesday morning.
- The cut left passengers sat in the dark for over an hour and closed TSA security lines for even longer.
- Photos and videos shared on social media show the airport largely in darkness.
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas has delayed flights following a power shortage that left passengers sat in the dark for over an hour on Wednesday morning and closed TSA security lines for even longer.
The airport first posted about the power outage at 4:53 a.m. local time, though local CNBC affiliate KXAN reported that viewers started sending in photos of the power cut from 4:30 a.m..
Courtesy of Austin Texas Adventure on Twitter
Passengers told Insider that the backup generator came on shortly after 6 a.m., restoring the main lighting, but that the internet, check-in desks, and security were still down. An air-traffic control note warned that if plans needed to load or under at the terminal, they wouldn't have access to the internet or working computers.
At 7:57 a.m. local time, the airport announced that power had been restored and TSA screenings had restarted. It later added that it was working to resume normal airport operations but that roadways to the airport were still closed and flights hadn't resumed yet.
"If you have a flight this morning, please hold off on arriving to the airport & contact your airline for the latest flight info," it said.
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The airport's website lists most of the flights as being on time, but some of the airlines' flight-status sites list lights from Austin as being delayed or canceled.
Southwest Airlines, for example, has canceled one flight to Los Angeles and one to Phoenix. American Airlines has canceled a flight to Charlotte, North Carolina and another to Dallas/Fort Worth.
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Photos and videos posted on Twitter appear to show stores largely shut and passengers using cellphone torches to navigate their way round the dark terminal.
"I think now people are anxious that they'll miss their flights because we don't know how long they'll hold them, and they still don't know how long until primary power comes on," one person at the airport told Insider.
But passengers said that, despite the confusion, the atmosphere in the terminal was largely calm. Bagel company Einstein Bros has handed out bagels to stranded passengers.
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