Cold Spell Taxes Electrical Supply at Hartford Airport

The winter's first real cold snap has left the electrical system at Bradley International Airport sputtering, causing outages that have backed up passenger check-ins.

As temperatures plummet, airport employees are taxing the electrical system to heat the buildings and planes overnight, said Barry Pallanck, acting airport administrator. On both Wednesday and Thursday, between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., a transformer reached capacity and shut off, causing 40-minute power losses, Pallanck said Thursday.

The outages forced airline workers to manually check in their customers, causing 25-minute delays on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, airline officials said.

``It is causing operational issues. There has been some inconvenience for both our employees and passengers,'' he said. ``It's cold out, so everything is being used out there. That's just how the planets aligned.''

The temperature at Bradley International Airport Thursday morning reached a low of 10 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Alan Garvey, the station manager for Delta Air Lines who brought up the issue during the airport's board of directors meeting Thursday, said the power losses caused ``significant delays.'' Northwest, Continental, Southwest and Delta Air Lines employees were all affected, he said.

``It's bad for customer service,'' he said.

Once power was restored, Garvey said, rebooting the airline's computers took two to three hours. Airport officials said they are also concerned that a prolonged outage could freeze the planes' lavatory systems, preventing the planes from taking off.

Airport spokesman John Wallace said the outages hit during an unfortunate time for the airlines.

``If you've been to an airport at five or six in the morning, it's like rush hour,'' he said. ``But there have been meetings with the electrical maintenance crews, and we're right on top of it.''

Pallanck said airport workers are trying to reduce the amount of electricity they use.

The state Department of Transportation is scheduled to upgrade the airport's electrical equipment at the end of the year, but Pallanck said the airport is working to get the project started sooner.

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