Terminal 3, which completed its first anniversary this July, plunged into darkness between 01.25am to 05.45am.
A five-hour power cut brought operations at IGI airport's swanky T3 terminal to a standstill today, delaying around 80 domestic and international flights and caused inconvenience to flyers.
Terminal 3, which completed its first anniversary this July, plunged into darkness between 01.25am to 05.45am.
The problem started at around 0125 hours when one of the power transformers that supplies power to T3 tripped due to an electrical fault.
The power supply to entire building was disrupted and operations of baggage handling system, passenger boarding (aero) bridges, piers, escalators and travelators came to a standstill, airport officials said.
The airline staff had to hand over the baggage of arriving passengers manually, after necessary permission from the customs.
The passengers had a harrowing time standing for hours in queue to complete the check-in process as airlines had to resort to manual check-in.
Between 0125 hours to 0830 hours, around 66 departing flights were delayed by upto three hours while 11 arriving ones were affected by upto half an hour.
During the power failure, the immigration procedure was being carried out with the help of the UPS system at the counters but it could provide a back-up for just one hour.
After 0210 hours, immigration work was also affected as the UPS back-up went dead. Around 0250 hours, partial power supply was restored in parts of international Pier.
A technical committee has been formed to assess and submit the report within a week, DIAL spokesperson said.
When the transformer tripped, back-up generators got automatically activated, an official said, "but as soon as its was synchronised with the terminal's essential line a spark occurred, forcing the authorities to disconnect them as part of a safety measure."
It took around two hours for DIAL officials to identify the faulty section of the panel.
The faulty components of the High Voltage line and its associated components were identified and disconnected manually and the section was isolated from the system.
"Full power supply was successfully restored at around 0510 hours at the main substation and was progressively stabilised by 0546 hours in the entire terminal building," the DIAL spokesperson said.
Through out this time, partial lighting was provided to include street lights, at multi-level car parking (MLCP) and terminal building.
A total of 66 departing flights - 25 international and 41 domestic - out of the total 75 departures witnessed an average delay of two hours, the spokesperson said, adding 11 arriving flights - 10 international and 1 domestic - out of the total 34 flights witnessed an average delay of 20 minutes.
As soon as, the power cut occurred, the airport operator claimed that they were making regular announcements informing passengers about the power outage and rectification work in-progress.
As a precautionary measure, all lifts were checked to ensure that no passengers were inside. All wash rooms were checked for any stranded passengers inside the cubicles.
"Various food and beverage outlets were asked to provide drinking water to the passengers. Extra seating arrangements were made. Manual clearance of passengers was undertaken by Immigration," the spokesperson said.
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