The Latest: Operations Recovering At Atlanta Airport

The latest on the power outage at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport:

9:15 a.m.

Airport operations were resuming Monday morning in Atlanta, a day after a crippling power outage left thousands stranded.

The ticketing and baggage areas were a bit backed up, but security lines were moving quickly. Most travelers were patient as the world's busiest airport recovered from the outage.

Georgia Power said a fire in an underground electrical facility caused a sudden power outage around 1 p.m. Sunday. That brought the airport to a standstill and grounded more than a thousand flights.

The utility thanked people for their patience in a tweet Monday morning and said all essential services were restored and that an investigation into the cause of the outage was ongoing.

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8:20 a.m.

Thick fog blanketed Atlanta on Monday morning and authorities said that could lead to additional flight delays a day after a power outage crippled the world's busiest airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration tweeted that Atlanta was among the airports where weather conditions might lead to air traffic delays Monday.

Georgia Power said a fire in an underground electrical facility caused a sudden power outage around 1 p.m. Sunday. That brought the airport to a standstill and grounded more than a thousand flights, leaving thousands of people stranded.

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7:25 a.m.

A former U.S. transportation secretary was among the travelers stuck on a plane as a power outage paralyzed Atlanta's airport, the world's busiest.

Anthony Foxx, who served under former President Barack Obama, tweeted Sunday that he was stuck on a plane for hours.

"Total and abject failure here at ATL Airport today," he tweeted, adding that there is "no excuse for lack of workable redundant power source. NONE!"

Georgia Power said a fire in an underground electrical facility caused a sudden power outage around 1 p.m. Sunday. That brought the airport to a standstill and grounded more than a thousand flights, leaving thousands of people stranded.

In another tweet, Foxx said the problem was "compounded by confusion and poor communication."

Once he was off the plane, Foxx tweeted that he hoped to rent a car to drive to Charlotte, North Carolina, to catch a flight Monday morning.

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6:50 a.m.

Passengers were being urged Monday morning to check with airlines for flight information as operations resumed in Atlanta following a power outage at the world's busiest airport.

A tweet early Monday from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport said airport concessionaires and the security lines are open.

Georgia Power said a fire in an underground electrical facility caused a sudden power outage around 1 p.m. Sunday. That brought the airport to a standstill and grounded more than a thousand flights, leaving thousands of people stranded.

Power was restored around midnight.

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines is the hardest hit airline. In a tweet, the airline urged travelers to use its mobile app or website for booking assistance and updated flight status. Delta was also allowing people traveling to, from or through Atlanta through Tuesday to make a one-time change for no fee.

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4:10 a.m.

While power has been restored to the world's busiest airport in Atlanta, the travel woes will linger for days.

Thousands of people are stranded Monday morning at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where more than 1,000 flights were grounded just days before the start of the Christmas travel rush.

A sudden power outage caused by a fire in an underground electrical facility brought the airport to a standstill Sunday about 1 p.m.

Delta, with its biggest hub operation in Atlanta, will be hardest hit.

Robert Mann, an aviation consultant and former American Airlines executive, said it likely will be Tuesday before Delta's operations return to normal, and for passengers "it could be most of the week" because there aren't many open seats on other flights in the last week before Christmas.

7:45 p.m.

Officials say power has been restored to at least one concourse at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

On its Twitter page Sunday night the airport tweeted, "Power on Concourse F is back ON! We are working with great urgency w/ @GeorgiaPower to restore power throughout rest of airport."

Power had been out at the airport since about 1 p.m. All flights coming into and going out of the world's busiest airport were halted.

Georgia Power said in a statement Sunday that a fire caused extensive damage in an underground electrical facility, impacting substations serving the airport. The cause of the fire is not yet known.

6:55 p.m.

Georgia Power says that it expects power to be restored at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport by midnight.

In a news release Sunday evening, the utility said the "the issue may have involved a fire which caused extensive damage in a Georgia Power underground electrical facility." The cause of the fire was not known, the statement says, but it impacted underground facilities and substations serving the airport.

Georgia Power spokeswoman Holly Crawford had said earlier that only the airport had been affected by the outage.

All incoming and outgoing flights at the airport have been halted since early Sunday afternoon.

6:15 p.m.

Airports in Chicago are among those affected by a power outage at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Dozens of Atlanta flights to and from O'Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport were listed as cancelled heading into the evening.

Chicago and Atlanta are two of the busiest airports in the U.S.

Information posted on the website of the Chicago aviation department said 25 flights had been cancelled at O'Hare and 13 at Midway. It didn't say if all those flights were cancelled because of what's happening in Atlanta.

The aviation department also said average delays at both O'Hare and Midway were about 15 minutes — though it didn't say if there was a direct link to the problems in Atlanta and the delays in Chicago.

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2:30 p.m.

Authorities say a power outage at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has caused flights to be suspended.

Airport spokesman Reese McCraine says the outage occurred early Sunday afternoon. He says all airport operations are being affected and that outgoing flights were halted.

McCraine says some incoming flights are being diverted to other airports in the region. He says the airport is working quickly to fix the issue.

McCraine says the cause of the outage is unknown. Georgia Power said it was working to find out the cause and restore electricity.