Cape Town - Technical operations at Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) are expected to be back to normal today, following a power outage that caused aircraft to be grounded and flights diverted at the weekend.
While flights resumed in the early hours yesterday, Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) said technicians remained at work.
“Acsa technicians and specialists are working on fully restoring the network and all systems are expected to be back to normal today” Acsa said.
CTIA experienced a fault on one of its main airfield circuits, which led to a cascading failure, impacting the uninterruptible power supply (UPS), Acsa added.
The organisation said that the incident had caused damage to several circuits.
As a precautionary measure on Sunday, several flights were diverted to alternative airports, including OR. Tambo International Airport and Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport.
Acsa said that the power supply challenges affected runway lights, airside fire rescue, and air traffic navigation services, resulting in flights not being able to land or depart.
The CTIA told the Cape Argus: “Unfortunately, the airport’s back-up system, which includes redundant circuits and generators, failed to activate as expected.
“This incident caused damage to several circuits.”
The airport company also encouraged travellers to download the Acsa mobile app for live flight information.
FlySafair chief marketing officer, Kirby Gordon, said that many of their airlines were affected by the incident, with 11 flights impacted.
Six flights that were already airborne when the power failure occurred were diverted to Port Elizabeth; two flights were diverted to Johannesburg; and the remainder were kept on the ground.
“The sudden influx of flights into Port Elizabeth, which is not typically equipped to handle such a large number of aircraft and passengers, posed a significant logistical challenge,” he said.
Gordon said that despite challenges, FlySafair teams worked tirelessly to manage the situation and provide as much support as possible to affected passengers.
“We are grateful for the patience and understanding shown by our customers during this difficult time and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
“At FlySafair, the safety and comfort of our passengers are our top priorities.
“While the situation was far from ideal, our staff and operations team worked through the night to ensure the safety and comfort of our passengers. We are proud of their dedication and commitment to maintaining high service standards under challenging circumstances,” Gordon said.
Gordon said that they were engaging Acsa to understand the cause of the power failure and to collaborate on measures to prevent such occurrences in the future.
“We believe that ensuring the reliability of airport infrastructure is essential to maintaining safe and efficient flight operations for all airlines.
“We extend our sincere apologies for the disruptions and assure our passengers that we are committed to restoring normal service as quickly as possible,” he said.
sibuliso.duba@inl.co.za