- The power was out at Cape Town International Airport for around five hours, causing cancellations and delays for hundreds of passengers.
- FlySafair was forced to cancel 18 domestic flights due to the outage.
- ACSA says the outage was caused by a damaged cable which took down important refueling systems.
A nearly five hour power outage at Cape Town International Airport on Wednesday saw several flights cancelled and rescheduled as the airport and Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) scrambled to get the lights back on.
According to an announcement from ACSA posted to X, the power outage was due to “a damaged cable” and impacted operations across the airport, including important fuel systems which means delays for aeroplanes landing and taking off.
Media Statement
22 January 2025ACSA says delays caused by power disruptions at Cape Town International Airport being resolved.
Power disruptions at Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) caused by a damaged cable have impacted operations at the airport’s fuel depot and led to…
— Cape Town Airport (@capetownint) January 22, 2025
It was first announced that the airport was experiencing difficulties with electricity around 15:30 on Wednesday, when technicians were already on site attempting to find a resolution. Just before 20:00 in the evening, ACSA announced that power had returned.
“Airport operations are currently being powered by generators while repairs are underway to fully restore the fuel system. The issue has been temporarily resolved, and refuelling operations have resumed,” it said.
“ACSA can confirm that flight schedules have been affected, and diversions are currently in place as the team works diligently to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”
The airport had said that as the power gradually returned, delays would occur as a “backlog” of stranded passengers would be worked through.
Popular domestic carrier FlySafair confirmed that the outage at the airport resulted in a number of flight cancellations, which had the knock-on effect of delays at other aiports. Namely OR Tambo International in Johannesburg.
“After the disruptions to flights caused by the power outages at Cape Town International Airport, we’ve loaded extra flights on 23 January to assist customers who still need to travel,” it said on its website.
“Unfortunately, not all routes and flights can be accommodated due to aircraft and crew availability.”
Six flights from Cape Town to Johannesburg and vice versa were moved to Thursday, with the latest being at 21:25, while four flights from Cape Town to Durban and vice versa were also scheduled for Thursday.
Meanwhile six flights were delayed for FlySafair, most flying from Cape Town to Durban. In total, the airline was forced to cancel 18 domestic flights across the country due to the outage. It is likely other airlines operating at the same time saw similar cancellations and delays.
A similar outage occurred in July 2024, when the airport said a “power supply challenge” cause delays and cancellations for significant amount of passengers. The airport called for incoming flights to divert before power was restored at 01:00 in the morning the following day.
