Power outage causes ‘significant’ disruptions at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport
Nov 8, 2021, 8:54 AM | Updated: 2:34 pm
(Twitter Photo/@PHXSkyHarbor)
(Twitter Photo/@PHXSkyHarbor)
PHOENIX – A power outage at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport caused “significant” flight disruptions throughout the day Monday and affected security, restaurant and retail operations.
The outage started at 8:05 a.m. and initially affected both terminals.
“There has been a power bump at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and we are currently working to get all systems back online,” airport officials said in the first of a series of updates on the situation.
Another update said the outage was causing “significant flight impacts.”
Power was fully restored by around 1:45 p.m., but delays were expected to continue into the evening, officials said. Travelers were encouraged to check with their airlines on the status of their flights before heading to the airport.
“Sky Harbor had more than 200 delays, more than 90 cancellations and more than 15 inbound flights diverted to other airports. American and Southwest, our two busiest airlines, were the most severely impacted,” Sky Harbor spokesman Eric Everts said via email.
Outage restoration updates for Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport can be found on our online outage map at https://t.co/zPyDmCyixU. pic.twitter.com/b4bHWD4tGl
— APS (@apsFYI) November 8, 2021
The outage started when a piece of electrical equipment failed during scheduled maintenance, injuring a worker, according to Arizona Public Service. An APS crew member was treated at a hospital and released, the utility company said.
“We apologize for the disruption to travelers and to airport and airlines staff who depend on reliable power to provide their essential services,” APS spokeswoman Yessica Del Rincón said via email.
The power was back on in Terminal 3 as of 9 a.m., but issues persisted for several more hours in Terminal 4, officials said.
The Sky Harbor flight status website showed dozens of flights originally scheduled to take off after the outage began being rescheduled or cancelled.
The Sky Harbor Twitter account said the outage impacted restaurant and retail service as well as flight operations.
