Tampa International Airport Power Outage Caused Delays Wednesday Night

A power outage at Tampa International Airport on Wednesday night disrupted airport operations and caused some delays for travelers.

The outage occurred just after 9 p.m. and affected the main terminal, airsides, rental car center and train systems. All areas of the airport had power returned by about 2 a.m., according to the airport’s Twitter account.

The cause of the outage remains under investigation, the airport said. TECO responded to the airport about 30 minutes after the outage, Adam Bouchard, the airport’s vice president of operations, told media Thursday night.

“What happened tonight was really unusual, it’s never happened before that we know of,” Bouchard said.

All flights affected by the outset of the power outage had been handled and assisted as of about 11:45 p.m., Bouchard said. At the time, the airport was working through boarding the last few delayed flights, which were running about 30 to 45 minutes behind.

While power was out at the airport, operations continued on emergency generator power, Bouchard said. The generators can run emergency light and power, though it can only support a few jet bridges — what you use to walk on and off a plane — at a time, Bouchard said.

“We cannot use all of the jet bridges on any one airside, simply the power draw is too substantial,” Bouchard said.

The hold-up in jet bridges meant fewer gates could be used and caused more delays, Bouchard said. The airport could park only about three aircraft at a time and get those passengers off the plane. Once those passengers were deplaned, airport employees moved on to the next flight.

Bouchard did not anticipate Thursday flights would be affected by the power outage.

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