Everything to return to normal Wednesday at Augusta Regional Airport
Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019
(News 12 at 6 O’Clock / NBC 26 at 7)
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – People were in and out of lines all day Tuesday at Augusta Regional Airport. Now that power is back on, the airport is playing catchup to get passengers on flights.
The power outage early Tuesday knocked out their security system, grounding all flights until around 3:20 p.m. Now airport officials are telling News 12 they’ll be prepared to handle a situation like this should it happen again.
Elijah Gordon was one of many passengers waiting to take off.
“We get here at 4 a.m. There's nobody at the desk at American, they don't get here until 5:15, then they tell us the flight is cancelled," explained an understandably frustrated Gordon.
Augusta Regional’s Executive Director, Herbert Judon, says an electrical breaker is to blame. It failed and shut down parts of the terminal and TSA checkpoint.
“Obviously if you can't screen passengers and you can't screen bags, they can't enter into the sterile area," Judon said in a press conference.
Judon tells News 12 they check that breaker on a regular basis and didn’t see this coming, but they also didn’t have a backup plan.
"This is a component that we do inspect on a regular basis, but this was just something that was completely unforeseen."
Next time, they have an extra part ordered to fix the issue earlier. Judon also says he’ll be chatting with his staff.
I'm going to sit down with my staff and just make sure we understand every little angle to make sure we can be as proactive as possible."
Passengers like Gordon were still able to pick out a silver lining throughout the ordeal.
“The only benefit is the weather at home is 7 degrees.”
While Delta flights began taking off at 3:21 p.m., all American Airlines flights into or out of Augusta were canceled Tuesday.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- As of 1:00 p.m., power is back on at Augusta Regional Airport.
Systems are all being rebooted, and the airport should be fully functional within the hour.
officials say they hope to have people flying out with Delta by 3:21 p.m.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- The TSA checkpoint at Augusta Regional Airport could be back open before the end of the day.
According to airport officials, a part that malfunctioned during the power outage has just arrived and will take approximately two hours to install.
Tuesday morning's power outage at the airport cancelled or delayed several flights out of Augusta.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- Augusta Regional Airport says they hope to have the airport back up and running Tuesday afternoon. They will be updating the media once again around 3:00 p.m.
Officials are urging travelers to frequently check their website for the latest flight information, but all American Airlines flights to or from Augusta Regional Airport
Head to the
for flight details.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- Officials at Augusta Regional Airport are telling people not to come to the airport during the power outage.
That announcement came during a press conference at 8:10 a.m. Tuesday.
The power outage is due to a main breaker issue.
The airport is transporting people to Charlotte and Atlanta in the time being.
Check back for the latest.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- Two flights have been canceled and two more are delayed after a power outage at Augusta Regional Airport.
Airport officials tell News 12 NBC 26 a main breaker went out causing delays.
Airport officials are holding a news conference at 8 A.M. to give an update on the situation.
Augusta Regional posted on Twitter about the delays: "Unfortunately AGS is currently experiencing a power outage which has affected all flights. Please contact your Airline directly for further flight information."
To check the status of your flight, head to www.flyags.com/Flight-Guide
News 12 NBC 26 will keep you updated as we learn more.
