As General Manager of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, I take full responsibility for our response to the power outage on Sunday, December 17. I know that the power outage affected thousands of people: travel plans were disrupted, and the experience was uncomfortable and frustrating for everyone involved. For this, I sincerely apologize.
We take pride in being named the busiest and most efficient airport in the world, and when that efficiency is compromised we have two immediate goals: to fix the problem, and to make sure it does not happen again.
Just before 1 p.m. on December 17, a Georgia Power-owned and -maintained electrical switchgear failed and caused a fire at the airport. The fire, in a remote underground utility tunnel, burned through electric lines connecting multiple and redundant sub-stations, and led to a power outage across much of the airport’s campus.
Airport first responders ensured that thousands of passengers, employees and visitors at Hartsfield-Jackson were safe and secure. Support teams were strategically deployed to each concourse and terminal to provide on-the-ground assistance. Additionally, our airline, concession and federal partners provided assistance to help facilitate the safety of everyone during the power outage.
Despite a very complex and dangerous situation for first responders, we are thankful that there was no loss of life and no serious injuries to them or the thousands of passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson.
Power was restored in less than 12 hours, despite the extensive scope of the damage to electrical gear. By Monday morning, the plane train came back online and all normal flight operations resumed.
As part of our airport emergency plan, we train constantly for incidents and emergencies. We have a power outage plan in place to expand and contract with other emergency contingency plans as needed. These plans were implemented and followed, but we acknowledge that we could have done better. We sincerely apologize for the disruption that this power outage caused the traveling public.
Airport leaders, even as they worked to reconcile the issues created by the outage, were already moving ahead and addressing questions raised by the incident.
In the aftermath of the power outage, we have taken critical steps to improve our preparedness. These include performing a comprehensive review of all emergency plans; continuing to investigate the root cause of Georgia Power’s electrical switchgear failure to ensure it does not happen again; purchasing dozens of additional bullhorns for communication on the concourses and in the terminals; determining the viability of physically separating the main and redundant power systems; reviewing the electrical capacity of our emergency generators for maximum power usage; and strengthening our communications tools and protocols.
We are also well aware of the communications shortcomings during the event. With no power, the PA systems did not work. Lack of Wi-Fi access and poor cell tower reception meant that many passengers in the concourses were unable to access our multiple social media posts, and therefore were uninformed about the circumstances surrounding the power outage. The airport is already taking steps to ensure life/safety systems powered by emergency generators include public address systems on the concourses. Manual signage, megaphones, and hard-wired telephone lines are also being incorporated into communications plans.
As part of our emergency response, Atlanta Police immediately deployed a substantial number of officers to the airport to augment the force already on location and assist in crowd control, traffic control and support. Roads leading to the airport were closed using personnel from College Park, Clayton County and Georgia Highway Patrol.
We had plans in place for a full-scale evacuation if needed. Buses were on standby to take passengers to the nearby Georgia International Convention Center, and MARTA was available to transport individuals to an overflow location at the Georgia World Congress Center. The airport coordinated with a variety of ground transportation partners, including MARTA, to facilitate passengers leaving the airport. MARTA offered continuous service throughout the incident, and allowed passengers to board trains for free. We are looking at ways to further strengthen our already extensive mutual aid service agreements with surrounding jurisdictions and agencies.
Working with hundreds of airport and partner employees, we were able to distribute food, water and comfort items to passengers across the airport campus. After a request from the city, thousands of meals were distributed from Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s and Wendy’s. TSA agents and other employees carried many disabled passengers up and down inoperable escalators.
Despite the quick recovery time and response efforts, we recognize that many of our customers were frustrated by the power outage. We take pride in the safe, efficient, and enjoyable experience we provide our guests. Any interruption in that level of service is unacceptable.
As a result of the December power outage, airport officials and Georgia Power are working tirelessly to make sure that this kind of occurrence never happens again.
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