Power outage delays flights at JWA

A power outage at John Wayne Airport late Monday morning lasted about two hours and delayed a few flights, officials said.

Authorities believe it was likely caused by construction on the airport’s B1 parking structure. A full count of how many flights were delayed or canceled is not yet available, but some flights were held more than an hour. On Monday, airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge had heard four flights were delayed.

“My guess is there were at least a few more than that, but it’s hard to tell at this point,” Wedge said.

After power went out shortly after 9:30 a.m., the airport switched to backup power, but baggage-screening equipment was down, causing the line at the security checkpoint to halt.

Passengers were unloaded from planes onto the tarmac using mobile staircases. Baggage carousels were out so airlines had to manually bring luggage to their passengers. Power went back on about 11:20 a.m., and as of 1 p.m. Monday everything was back to normal at the airport.

— Alan Blank