Atlanta airport shut down after electrical explosion

PASSENGERS were being allowed to retu to their gates at Atlanta's airport after a small electrical explosion at a maintenance shop knocked out some power to one of the concourses, authorities said. No one was injured.

The explosion happened around 8:40 AM Tuesday at a maintenance shop near Gate D 21, said Reese McCranie, deputy director at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Inteational Airport.

McCranie said there was no fire, but the explosion caused what he described as some "minor property damage."

The explosion briefly shut down power to part of the airport, Atlanta Fire Rescue spokeswoman Janet Ward said.

A partial power outage remained shortly before 10:30 AM in some parts of Concourse D, but the fire department had given the "all-clear" and passengers were retuing to the concourse, McCranie said.

Delta Airlines is working with airport officials and others involved to determine the impact to Delta operations, company spokesman Morgan Durrant said.

Though Atlanta is major hub for Delta, the Atlanta-based airline has only a handful of gates in Concourse D.

Durrant said at 10 am Tuesday that Delta didn't know yet whether it would need to delay or cancel any flights, but would take those measures only as a last resort.