Operations at Los Angeles International Airport were returning to normal Thursday morning after a power outage knocked out electricity for nearly four hours, affecting everything from lighting to passenger bridges, from terminals to planes, before power was restored.
The outage struck about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and was caused by a power ‘bump’ at an off-airport Los Angeles Department of Water and Power substation, which caused a power disruption throughout the airport, according to airport officials. It caused 21 flight cancellations and at least seven diversions of flights, according to an airport official.
Power was restored within an hour to terminals 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and the Tom Bradley International Terminal. Terminals 1, 7 and 8 remained with only emergency power.
LADWP personnel were called in to restore power to those terminals and the city Department of Transportation was summoned to reset traffic signals in the terminal area.
“Out of an abundance of caution, due to last night’s power disruption, guests this morning in Terminal 1 are being rescreened by TSA,” the airport Tweeted about 6 a.m. Thursday. “Airport police and TSA are sending additional officers to expedite the screening process.”
Power was restored to Terminal 7 around 9:40 p.m., Terminal 8 about 9:50 and Terminal 1 around 10 p.m. Power was restored to Parking Structures 1 and 7 and the LAX gateway pylons shortly thereafter, an airport official said.
Passengers on at least some Southwest Airlines planes at Terminal 1, where the airline is located, were unable to disembark because the jet bridges were not functioning.
Around 9:30 p.m., officials said Southwest Airlines had canceled 18 flights scheduled to leave Wednesday night.
Three United flights were canceled, seven others were diverted and 15 more were delayed, officials said.
“During the outage, Los Angeles Airport Police deployed traffic officers to the (Central Terminal Area) and surrounding streets to assist with traffic flow,” the airport said. Officers were also assigned to the ticketing areas to help with crowd management and provide directions for passengers, as well as maintain security at Transportation Security Administration checkpoints.