Power restored at RDU’s Terminal 2 but travelers should expect longer wait times
Power has been restored at a terminal at Raleigh-Durham International Airport but officials continued to warn passengers on Friday to prepare for long wait times.
The airport reported major outages in Terminal 2 shortly after 4 a.m., which it said were “impacting our ability to serve passengers.”
Terminal 1, which serves Southwest Airlines, was unaffected, the airport said.
Just before 7 a.m., the airport said contractors were working with airport staff to restore power but didn’t have a timeline for that to happen.
By 11:30 a.m., contractors had replaced a 1600 amp circuit breaker, which fully restored power to all systems in the terminal, the airport said.
Travelers with flights out of Terminal 2 should still check with their airline about the status of their flight before coming to RDU, and should still expect long wait times, the airport continued to advise.
The power outage was caused by water damage to a power distribution center in Terminal 2, airport spokesperson Stephanie Hawco said earlier in an email.
“As we work to restore power to our various systems, we are anticipating flight delays and (cancellations) for airlines operating out of Terminal 2,” Hawco said.
In a follow-up email Friday afternoon, an airport spokesperson said the leak was caused by a cleaning crew spilling “a large amount of water that seeped into the floor, damaging and tripping an electrical system.”
Airport personnel assessed the damage around 1 a.m., when the leak occurred, the spokesperson said, and determined that they needed the assistance of an outside contractor with specific knowledge of the airport’s electrical systems.
“It took time in the middle of the night to mobilize resources with the technical expertise required to safely diagnose and repair a complicated electrical system,” the spokesperson said.
Hawco said she did not have specific information about any delayed, diverted or canceled flights. Ticketing, baggage handling and the security checkpoint at Terminal 2 are being manually processed, she said.
As of 2 p.m., an online tracker of the status of arriving and departing flights on RDU’s website showed that more than two dozen incoming and outgoing flights had been canceled or delayed. A handful of flights had also been diverted to other airports.
Hundreds of passengers waiting in lines
Myiesha Aleah was headed to Newark, N.J., on Friday morning and had been in a security line since 4:30 a.m. She was only able to proceed to her gate shortly after 7 a.m., at which time there were still more than 500 people waiting in lines, she said.
Aleah’s flight was scheduled to depart at 6 a.m. and was instead preparing to take off around 8:30 a.m., she said.
Once onboard, she said many seats were empty, even though the flight had been almost fully booked, and said that was likely due to the delay in passengers getting through security.
One traveler wrote on Twitter that the line of passengers was “ridiculous” and that they were going to miss their flight.
A security line was wrapped twice around the terminal building, and security officials were “having to pat each person down,” the person said.
Another traveler said body scanners at security were not functioning and that passengers and their bags were being searched by hand.
They posted a photo that appeared to show more than 100 passengers waiting in security lines that extended out to the check-in counters.
This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 7:51 AM.
