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Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport power cut grounds flights Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport power cut grounds flights
(about 4 hours later)
A power cut at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson international airport has led to the suspension of outgoing flights and major delays. A power cut at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson international airport has led to a partial shut-down and major delays to flights.
It is not clear what caused the blackout, but firefighters say they are on standby as power company officials try to fix the problem. The airport is the world's busiest, handling more than 250,000 passengers and almost 2,500 flights every day.
Flights scheduled to arrive from other airports are being diverted elsewhere or held at their departure airport. Passengers have been left in darkened terminals or on board aeroplanes.
The outage has caused delays at security checkpoints and on runways. Many flights scheduled to arrive from other airports are being diverted elsewhere or held at their departure airport.
In a statement, the airport said they sustained a power outage shortly after 13:00 (18:00 GMT) on Sunday and were investigating its cause. In a statement, the airport said they sustained a power outage shortly after 13:00 (18:00 GMT) on Sunday.
The Federal Aviation Administration said flights bound for Atlanta had been being grounded and equipment in the terminals had stopped working. Georgia Power, who supplies the airport's electricity, said they believed a fire at an underground electrical facility was to blame for the outage.
Georgia Power, which provides electricity to the airport, said the cause of the power cut was not immediately known. They said the cause of the blaze was not known, but that they expected to restore power by midnight on Sunday (05:00 GMT Monday).
"Crews in the field are working with the airport to determine the cause as quickly as possible," the company said on Twitter. The flight control tower is operating normally, but a number of major airlines, including United, Southwest and American Airlines, have completely suspended their operations for the rest of the day.
Images shared on social media showed passengers waiting in darkness.Images shared on social media showed passengers waiting in darkness.
Hartsfield-Jackson is the world's busiest airport, handling more than 250,000 passengers and nearly 2,500 arrivals and departures every day. Delta Airlines said on Twitter they were working to get passengers off planes that had landed but were unable to transfer to the limited number of available gates.
The local police department confirmed they had sent extra officers to help with the situation.
Atlanta is located within a two-hour flight of 80% of the US population, making the city a major port of entry into the US and a common stopover for travel within the country.Atlanta is located within a two-hour flight of 80% of the US population, making the city a major port of entry into the US and a common stopover for travel within the country.