Electrical Fire Puts Airport In The Black

A small electrical fire is being blamed for a two-hour blackout at Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport (MKE) on Tuesday afternoon.

Officials at MKE told The Associated Press the power outage caused numerous outbound flight delays. Several airport shops were also forced to close their doors.

Perhaps worst of all... the airport was also without air conditioning until around 6 pm, as temperatures outside hit the high 80s.

An investigation is underway, but airport spokesman Pat Rowe said the cause appears to have been a small fire, possibly caused by a contractor working in an underground utility tunnel.

"It slowed things considerably," Rowe said. "People's baggage was being screened by hand and they were being hand-wanded through security."

Inbound flights were relatively unaffected, as the airport's control tower has its own power supply. Once passengers made it onboard their outbound flights, those planes were also able to leave in a more-or-less normal manner.

A spokeswoman for Midwest Airlines -- which has more than 230 daily departures from the airport, the carrier's hub -- said it could have been a lot worse, and in fact turned out better than she had feared.

"The delays were pretty short, but the jetways weren't moving, so we would pull up the stairs to the aircraft doors," said Carol Skornicka. "I thought we were facing something like all night. It caused a great deal of inconvenience, but it's not like being down for two days with bad weather.

"It's relative to a certain extent," she added.

FMI: www.mitchellairport.com/