SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio International Airport experienced some turbulence Tuesday afternoon, but it wasn't long before the building started flying smoothly once more.
About an hour-and-a-half after SAT officials tweeted that they were dealing with "an unexplained power outage," a Twitter update read that "power has been restored and the airport is now fully operational."
“We had a third-party contractor damage some of our equipment that caused about a 500 person outage with commercial and residential customers,” Nora Castro, a CPS Energy spokesperson, told KENS 5.
CPS Energy said the outage at the airport lasted about an hou,r but it was enough to cause a ripple effect on the facility. Crews issued a ground stop, delaying any flights that were expected to depart or arrive.
“The TSA security checkpoint was temporary closed for 15 minutes, and even things such as our concession area with refrigerators and cooking power lights and everything all of it was affected,” said Rich Stinson with the San Antonio International Airport.
There was also no baggage claim as the systems failed until power was fully restored. Just a couple of flights were delayed due to the outage, but the biggest question was, how did this happen?
Castro said sometimes it just does.
“I don’t know the details of what the contractor was doing, but it does happen,” she said. “I’m not sure if it was a digging incident or an overhead incident, but again, that safety should always be a priority. Power lines are above ground and underground, so we ask customers to always keep that top of mind.”
Crews with the San Antonio International Airport worked conjunction with CPS Energy to resolve the issue, the airport said.
A spokesperson with CPS Energy initially told KENS 5 that an additional 500 residential and commercial locations are impacted by the outage, but as of 1 p.m., power had been returned to the grand majority of them. View the CPS Energy outage map here.
The lunch rush at the Alamo Quarry was also affected, with some people dining in the dark. The shopping area didn't report any crimes of opportunity at retail businesses. No injuries were reported while the power was out, either.