Cape Town International Airport and some of the surrounding areas were left without power on Tuesday when a fire broke out at the Eskom Airport Substation.
Eskom noted that the power supply to Nyanga, Pick ‘n Pay (Storage), Bishop Lavis, Heilbot and Airport Industrial was interrupted at 09h40 on Tuesday, but was fully restored to all areas at 16h15.
Jolene Henn, Eskom Provincial Spokesperson, noted: “We managed to connect some customers via alternative supply points at approximately 11h00.”
In a statement, Lennit Max, Democratic Alliance (DA) Western Cape Spokesperson on Transport and Public Works, revealed that the DA is concerned about the apparent lack of maintenance by Eskom within the Western Cape.
“Today is a reminder of what postponing necessary maintenance can cause. The economic impact of the power outage in parts of the Cape Town International airport will be quite significant as we also understand that surrounding areas have also been affected by the power outage,” said Max.
According to a report, Deidre Davids, Airports Company South Africa spokesman, stated that the airport ran on “essential back-up power which allows for only core systems to operate,” while the power was out.
As a result of the power outage, some flights were delayed by between 15 and 30 minutes, highlighted Davids.
Eskom highlighted that “a technical investigation is currently underway to determine the cause of the fire.”