Power issue at Columbia airport knocks out air conditioning, concessions

Posted 6/17/23

Travelers going through the Columbia Metropolitan Airport are having to do without concessions and air conditioning.

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Subscribe to continue reading. Already a subscriber? Sign in

Get 50% of all subscriptions for a limited time. Subscribe today.

You can cancel anytime.
 

Please log in to continue

Log in

Power issue at Columbia airport knocks out air conditioning, concessions

Posted

Travelers going through the Columbia Metropolitan Airport had to do without concessions and air conditioning Saturday.

At about 7 a.m. June 17, the airport announced via social media that it experienced a complete power failure on the airside of its terminal.

"At approximately 2 a.m. this morning, a drainage leak caused the main electrical power bus to short resulting in a power outage on the secured side of the airport," the airport said in a release issued a little before 3 p.m. "CAE team members and electricians have been on site since the outage occurred working to restore power to this part of the airport. As of right now, the team is conducting power tests and are estimating that power will be restored later this afternoon. "

The airport posted a little after 7 p.m. that power had been restored and all systems were back online.

Throughput the outage, the terminal continued operating with emergency lights, the airport posted to social media.

"There have been some delays, however no canceled flights," the release states, with the airport noting that passengers temporarily boarded and de-boarded via ground access. "CAE’s airline partners, CAE team members and support staff have been assisting passengers board/de-board flights by ground boarding measures while the power outage is addressed."

The outage affected air conditioning to the terminal and prevented the airport from selling concessions in that area.

Airport coffee kiosk Red Eye Express posted that it was still “open and running as normal this morning for all passengers who need food or drinks.”

“The CAE team acted quickly and has been working tirelessly with maintenance professionals to restore power to the terminal,” Mike Gula, CAE’s executive director, was quoted about the outage. “We’re doing everything we can to help our passengers traveling today navigate this inconvenience. We’re thankful to see only minor flight delays and no cancellations at this time.”

It’s the second major hiccup the airport has suffered in the past couple months.

On Friday, May 5, it experienced an unanticipated issue with the newly installed inline baggage system when the automated baggage inspection equipment malfunctioned, causing TSA agents to have to inspect checked bags by hand and leading to bags from several passengers spread across eight flights not to be loaded onto their planes.

That day, the inline baggage system was down for about 10 hours.

This is a developing story and will continue to be updated.

columbia metroplitan airport, sc air travel, lexington county business

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here