PHL Terminal D Lost Power For Nearly 17 Hours, Delaying Flights

As if post-holiday travel isn’t problematic enough on its own, travelers at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) faced lengthy delays after losing power for nearly 17 hours. The mysterious outage only affected Terminal D.

Terminal D reportedly lost power at around 9:00 pm local time on November 29. Six arrivals, three from Delta and three from United, were rerouted to Terminal A. This was just the beginning of a confusing and delay-filled day.

Just before 5:00 am on November 30, PHL staff shared an update on social media advising passengers of potential setbacks in their travel plans.

“Due to a power outage in #PHLAirport’s Terminal D, all United, Delta, JetBlue, Air Canada and Alaska Air passengers headed to or from PHL should check with their airline for their current flight status. All other terminals at PHL have power,” the PHL Service Advisory explained.

Two hours later, the airport confirmed that power in Terminal D was still missing and, again, asked customers to review their flights to check for delays. At 13:30, almost 17 hours after the outage began, the Philadelphia airport regained power.

"Power was restored to Terminal D at PHL at approximately 1:30 pm. Terminal gates and ticketing computers are operating and concessions are open," stated Heather Redfern, City of Philadelphia Department of Aviation Public Affairs Manager.

The brunt of the travel delays occurred during the outage itself. At 11:00 am, six arrivals and thirteen departures from Delta were off schedule. Other impacts include two arrivals and eight departures for United, seven departures for Spirit, one arrival for Air Canada, and one arrival and departure for Alaska Airlines. This was not the end of it, however.

At 16:00, almost 100 flights from American, Delta, Spirit, and other airlines had been pushed back. Best part is, the airport still does not know what caused the outage or if it will happen again. This is especially frustrating for the over 1 million travelers expected to pass through PHL between November 22 and December 3.

FMI: www.phl.org