ATLANTA (AP) - The Latest on the power outage at Atlanta’s airport (all times local):
1:15 p.m.
School officials say the power outage that struck Atlanta’s airport has caused a Georgia college basketball team to miss a tournament now underway in Puerto Rico.
Kennesaw State University says Sunday’s blackout caused its women’s team to miss its flight to the island. The school said in a statement that as a result, it’s not competing in the Puerto Rico Classic. The tournament began Monday and ends Wednesday.
The nation’s air-travel system was snarled after the underground blaze knocked out electricity Sunday and crippled Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for about 11 hours.
Coach Agnus Berenato says that after the outage, the team looked into flying from several airports throughout the Southeast, but was unable to secure flights.
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9:35 a.m.
Georgia Power says the FBI is among several agencies involved in the investigation into what caused a fire that knocked out power to Atlanta’s airport, but an agency spokesman says there’s no indication of terrorism at this point.
FBI spokesman Kevin Rowson tells The Associated Press on Tuesday that there’s no sign of “anything nefarious or anything related to terrorism.”
Georgia Power spokesman Craig Bell said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also is involved. Bell said that due to the magnitude of the power outage, the company wants to be able to rule out “any possible scenario that wasn’t equipment malfunction.”
Bell said Tuesday that no conclusions have been drawn about the cause of the fire, which took out the airport’s main power supply as well as backup electricity for about 11 hours Sunday.
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8 a.m.
Two days after a power loss grounded flights at Atlanta’s airport over the weekend, passengers are still sleeping in the atrium area at the world’s busiest airport.
Video from news outlets Tuesday morning showed passengers sprawled out on benches and chairs, and luggage piled up in a nearby area of the domestic terminal.
The nation’s air-travel system was snarled after the underground blaze knocked out electricity Sunday and crippled Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for about 11 hours.
The airport on Monday publicized a list of hotels which had availability as airlines worked to rebook passengers and return to normal operations.
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7:15 a.m.
As Atlanta’s airport continues to recover from a power outage that grounded flights over the weekend, it’s taking some passengers up to an hour to get through security.
The airport’s website showed that wait times to get through security early Tuesday were 45 minutes to an hour at the main checkpoint in the domestic terminal. Smaller checkpoints in the terminal were taking 15 to 30 minutes to clear.
The Sunday blackout forced the cancellation of over 1,500 flights days before the start of the Christmas rush.
Air travel expert says no matter how fast Delta and other airlines move, it will take a few days to get the hundreds of thousands of grounded passengers to their final destinations.
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3:15 a.m.
Delta Air Lines and other carriers that operate out of Atlanta’s airport say they expect to be running normally by Tuesday, after a fire and blackout there. The Sunday blackout forced the cancellation of over 1,500 flights days before the start of the Christmas rush.
But an air travel expert says no matter how fast Delta and other airlines move, it will take a few days to get the hundreds of thousands of grounded passengers to their final destinations. Robert Mann, president of an airline consulting firm in Port Washington, New York said that in rare cases, some passengers won’t arrive until Thursday.
The nation’s air-travel system was snarled after the underground blaze knocked out electricity Sunday and crippled Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for about 11 hours.
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