Parts of San Francisco International Airport briefly lost power early Thursday morning after an electrical incident involving PG&E caused network problems across airport systems.
Airport officials said the early-morning power surge disrupted electrical equipment, knocking out power in portions of several terminals, two runways, and parts of the baggage system. Electricians ultimately had to reset the airport’s entire electrical network.
At about 3 a.m., power went out in parts of International Terminal G and Terminal 2. At the same time, lighting for two runways shut down, along with components of the airport’s baggage-handling system.
Full operations resumed around 6 a.m. after crews completed a system reset. Officials said the incident did not pose an immediate danger to passengers and did not worsen existing weather-related delays at the airport.
Airport spokesman Nicholas Evangelista said a PG&E-related issue triggered a “network storm” that required staff to reset the system. He said runway lights for Runways 28R and 1L went dark but were restored within 45 minutes. During that time, the airport used emergency generators to assist two landings and one takeoff.
Evangelista emphasized that passenger safety was not compromised and said the early-morning timing limited operational impacts due to low passenger volume. He added that the air traffic controller tower remained in operation and other key components of the airport had contingency plans in place for such incidents to ensure safety was upheld.
While the power outage caused minimal disruption, winter weather on Christmas Day continued to affect travelers across the region.
Earlier Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground delay program under the U.S. Domestic Program, limiting arrivals at SFO to 25 flights per hour. The FAA later increased the rate to 28 flights per hour through Friday. The program affects all domestic flights and select routes from Canada.
Ground delay programs require aircraft to delay departures and arrivals to maintain safe air traffic levels during adverse weather.
As of Thursday afternoon, flight-tracking website FlightAware reported more than 300 delayed flights to and from SFO, with only four cancellations.
United, Southwest, SkyWest, Delta, and American Airlines experienced the most significant disruptions.
Nearby Bay Area airports in Oakland and San Jose remained largely unaffected by the winter weather.
Passengers are encouraged to check with their airlines for the latest flight information.