“A man is just yelling, ‘Go this way.'”
ATLANTA — Power is out at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and all flights are being held, officials said Sunday.
The airport is currently holding all inbound flights until at least 4 p.m. and departure delays are averaging nearly an hour and a half, according to FlightAware .
The outage was first reported about 1:15 p.m.
Flyers should check the official FAA website for air traffic control updates. As of 3 p.m., traffic destined to Atlanta was being delayed at its departure point.
Rick Crotts, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution editor aboard a flight that had arrived at the airport around the time of the power failure, is among passengers still waiting aboard their flights to reach a gate.
Crotts’ flight has been waiting for more than an hour, when crews brought a ladder and started getting people off the plane about 3:40 p.m., he said.
Earlier, the Delta Air Lines pilot told passengers a construction crew cut a power line, causing the outage, but an airport spokesman, Andy Gobeil, said officials weren’t sure.
“We have not determined what caused it,” Gobeil said. Atlanta fire officials and others are “trying to determine how long it will take to get everything up and running.”
Georgia Power officials confirmed they are aware of the problem, but didn’t have additional information.
Inside the airport at Concourse D, Olivia Dorfman told The AJC she was about to board a flight home to Indiana when the power went out.
“Maybe 10 minutes later a buzzer went off in the background — that has been going on for over an hour and every so often bright lights flash in the ceiling,” Dorfman said.
Near the D9A gate, she said smoke filled the area and at different times airport workers tried to herd passengers toward the smoky area and away from it.
“This has been very bizarre,” she said. “No one seems to know what they’re doing.”
After at least one other woman said she wouldn’t stand in the area that smelled of acrid smoke like from an electrical fire because she suffers from asthma. She and others then walked back toward the gate, Dorfman said.
“A man is just yelling, ‘Go this way,’” Dorfman said.
She said the stores aren’t able to sell water or items because of the power outage.
“It’s unbelievable; this is the busiest airport,” Dorfman said.
John Reetz, a passenger on Flight DL 5297, said his is one of about 30 planes parked on the tarmac, waiting for power to be restored.
“Can’t extend jetways from terminal so planes are parking on tarmac,” Reetz said in an email.
The pilot told passengers about 2:30 p.m. that nobody had issued any estimate on when the power would be restored, Reetz said.
“All we can do is listen and wait to hear something,” the pilot told passengers.
At the time, passengers were in a generally good mood, but at least one joked that he didn’t have to use the restroom until he saw a line.
That was only after 45 minutes, Reetz said.
About 3:10 p.m., an officer onboard that flight told passengers, “’This looks like it’s going to be a longer process now instead of a shorter one,’” Reetz said. “We’re going to be here for a while unfortunately.”
No flights are off-loading passengers or crew except perhaps cargo planes that have separate terminal areas, Reetz said, noting that more planes landed and there were 40 planes parked on south side of airport.
“No idea how many more on the north side,” the officer aboard the flight told Reetz.
