Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world’s busiest, experienced an 11-hour power outage last month that caused widespread flight disruptions.
The outage occurred after a fire on Sunday, Dec. 17. Power was restored a few hours later, but the interruption severely affected airport operations and was followed the next day by dense fog that further hampered recovery efforts.
On Sunday, the power loss resulted in 1,173 canceled flights and 207 delays. The following day, when airport activity attempted to normalize, another 400 flights were canceled and 42 more delayed. Delta Air Lines, which uses Atlanta as a major hub, reported the largest share of those disruptions.
During the blackout, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration temporarily grounded all flights at the airport. Many travelers were held on planes at gates or on taxiways for extended periods before being allowed to deplane.
Although flights resumed once power returned, the backlog of delayed and canceled flights created cascading effects across the national air-travel network. The subsequent morning’s fog in Atlanta and at several other airports amplified those disruptions, prolonging recovery and stranding additional passengers.
Airport officials and airlines worked through the following days to rebook passengers and restore normal schedules, but the combination of the outage and poor weather made the recovery slower than usual. Travelers were advised to check with their airlines for updated flight information and to allow extra time when flying through affected hubs during recovery periods.