Summary
- Baltimore Airport suffered a power outage for two hours, causing delays for passengers and airlines.
- The operational disruptions resulted in flights being delayed up to 3 hours, and some even canceled.
- BWI’s status as a major hub for Southwest Airlines significantly impacted that airline’s schedules and services.
Baltimore Airport in the US suffered a power outage on Saturday evening, which resulted in considerable delays in passenger services and, to some extent, affected airlines’ networks and schedules. While the power was restored after an outage of two hours, passengers were not too happy with their airport experience.
Lights-out
While it is uncommon, there have been occasions of airports experiencing power cuts or outages, and such an incident occurred on Saturday evening at around 17:30 in Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI). Reports from The Baltimore Banner state that the power outage left passengers in the dark and several flights grounded.
It is reported that passengers were caught off guard, and there was little communication between airport staff and the travelers. While several passengers were stuck within the terminal, several passengers were stuck onboard airplanes for extended periods of time, which were also effectively stuck on the ground. Former US attorney and current Democratic strategist was at BWI during the outage and had this to say on X.
Reports suggest that the temperature inside the terminal had risen to 33.3 degrees Celcius (92 degrees Fahrenheit). While the cause of the power outage is still being investigated, the airport eventually recovered its power across the terminal and buildings at around 19:10, after which operations resumed.
Significant disruptions
During events such as power outages, not only the terminal but the airside operations are also severely impacted. In this instance, aircraft already on the ground could not effectively move due to the power cut, making communication and ground navigation difficult. Data from FlightRadar24.com shows that almost all the flights meant to depart BWI starting at 17:20 were delayed on average by two to three hours, with some flights, such as Spirit Airlines NK667 BWI to DFW, even getting canceled.
Due to the disruption, several passengers had to wait for hours after landing before they received their baggage, while connecting passengers were concerned about their onward flights.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
Considering BWI is a major operational hub for Southwest Airlines, predictably, a huge chunk of the flights delayed were Southwest services. The airline operates the most services from BWI (over 70 flights) compared to other airlines flying in and out of the airport.
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Busy time at BWI
While Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) is the major airport for most international carriers in the region, BWI attracts more leisure travelers and a significant number of operations from low-cost carriers such as Southwest, Frontier, and Spirit.
Data reported by wtopnews indicate that BWI recorded the highest ever passengers of 2.52 million during the month of May, which is a 7.7% increase in passenger numbers compared to May 2023, and considering airports across the country were set to handle record passengers last week during the fourth of July travel period, it is possible that this disruption occurred at a rather busy time.
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Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
The airport recorded its highest number of passengers last year of 26.3 million, which was more than the number of passengers recorded in Dulles or Reagan Airports.