A massive power outage left travelers stranded or unable to arrive at the Denver International Airport on Wednesday.
Videos by Suggest
According to CBS News, the outage occurred a little after 9 a.m. and led to a ground stop. The power was successfully restored at 11 a.m.
However, by 5 p.m., hours after the power was restored, nearly 550 flights were delayed, and more than half a dozen were canceled.
In a statement, airport officials described the outage as a “widespread power incident.” Although some of the travel hub’s systems were restored quickly, several “critical” ones remained without power for “roughly an hour.”
By noon, operations at Denver International Airport were fully back to normal.
Arriving Flights Were Unable to Land at the Airport During the Power Outage
Meanwhile, air travelers were left confused when their flight crew announced that he was unable to land at Denver International Airport.
An air traveler took to TikTok to share a video of herself listening to the announcement on a flight, which was already grounded, but travelers were unable to leave the aircraft.
“It’s just crazy. I can’t believe this is happening,” a flight personnel member stated. “I don’t have much more information. I’ll let you know when I get it.”
He further shared, “The information I do have shows they are diverting everyone right now. So there are no more inbound aircraft, at least not United. [They] are diverting everyone out of Denver because of this crazy situation.
Another traveler shared on TikTok the long lines at the airport’s security checkpoints.
“Well, the good news is we got through security at DIA in less than 20 minutes,” the traveler stated. “The bad news is there’s a power outage and nothing else is working.”
CBS News further reported that travelers were not allowed to board waiting aircraft amid the situation. The power outage even impacted bathroom services.
Patrick Moreno, of California, who was traveling through the Denver International Airport, stated, “The train was out of service and had no power. Some of the backup power was available, some things were working, but a lot of things wouldn’t work. Even the intercom systems, they couldn’t make announcements, they couldn’t let people know.”
Another traveler shared, “You had to walk through instead of taking the trains to get to the A, B, and C gates. Once we first got there, all of the gates were completely shut down, so there were hundreds and hundreds of people waiting to get to the train. So I’m turning around and heading back home.”