ATL power outage forces flight cancellations

Power is back on at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL), after an outage that began on Sunday – at the peak of the busiest air cargo season of the year – forced the cancellation of more than 1,500 flights yesterday and today, according to FlightAware.com.

Georgia Power, an electric subsidiary of Southern Company, said the outage may have been caused by a fire, which damaged a Georgia Power underground electrical facility, and also knocked out its backup electrical system.

A large share of the cancellations came from Delta Air Lines, which is headquartered in Atlanta. On the passenger side, operations are expected to return to normal by Monday afternoon. However, according to Delta Cargo, several embargoes remain in effect even as teams are working to reroute affected shipments.

For domestic flights moving through ATL, currently the busiest airport in the world, Delta Cargo declared an embargo on all products through the end of the day on Tuesday, Dec. 19. The embargo for all products on international flights moving through the airport will lift at the end of today.