Florida flights delayed by Atlanta outage

The power glitch at world's busiest airport grounded more than 1,000 flights, triggering a domino effect of cancellations and delays for inbound and outbound flights at all three major airports in South Florida as the holiday travel rush was starting.

A sudden power outage brought the world’s busiest airport to a standstill Sunday, grounding more than 1,000 flights in Atlanta and causing delays and cancellations in South Florida just days before the start of the Christmas travel rush.

Dozens of incoming and outgoing flights were delayed or canceled at South Florida’s three main airports: Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Dania Beach, Miami International Airport and Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach.

“Please check your airlines before coming to the airport,” said Marc Henderson, spokesman for the Miami airport. Among flights already canceled today are: Delta flight 2271 from Palm Beach International to Atlanta at 9:11 a.m.

Delta flight 2050 from Palm to Atlanta at 10 a.m.

Delta flight 1746 from Miami International to Atlanta at 9:16 a.m.

American Airlines flight 958 from International to Atlanta at 7:55 a.m.

Henderson said the Miami airport had nine cancellations by 5 p.m. Sunday. The Fort Lauderdale airport reported 34 delays and 17 cancellations about 9 p.m. The West Palm Beach airport reported several cancellations and delays.

Hours after the blackout began, authorities announced that electricity would be restored at the Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport by midnight.

Passengers at the airport were left in the dark when the lights went out about 1 p.m. The outage halted all outgoing flights, and arriving planes were held on the ground at their point of departure. International flights were being diverted, officials said.

Delta, with its biggest hub operation in Atlanta, will be hardest hit. By evening, Delta had already canceled almost 800 Sunday flights and another 250 for today, nearly all of them in Beach International Miami