Delta Air Lines moved to restore operations Monday after a complete power outage at its base hub, Atlanta Hartsfield International, forced the airline to cancel about 1,300 flights Dec 17 and Dec 18. According to electric utility Georgia Power, a Dec. 17 fire in an underground facility “caused extensive damage,” including to substations serving ATL. Despite “many redundant systems” in place to preserve power to the airport, ATL went dark from about 1 pm Dec 17 to 12 am Dec 18, an 11-hour blackout that forced FAA to ground all air traffic to/from ATL. About 1,200 total flights were canceled Dec 17, most of which were Delta flights. While Delta systems played no part in the episode, the ATL blackout likely will be costly for the airline. The blackout occurred just 10 days after a winter storm in Atlanta forced Delta to cancel nearly 1,400 flights. <br/>
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Garuda Indonesia has estimated its international traffic will be down by 15% in the period between mid-November and the year's end due to the volcanic eruption on the holiday island of Bali. However, the lossmaking airline aims to be back in profit next year with an increase in revenue of 10-12%, CE Pahala Mansury said Monday. Garuda reported a US$222m net loss for in the first 9 months of 2017. Asked about the impact of the eruption of the Mount Agung volcano, which has cut tourism on Bali and shut the airport for several days last month, Mansury said local demand for travel to Bali had held up better than international flights. "The impact to domestic demand is not too significant. It only decreased by 5%," Mansury said. <br/>
A Labour Court judge has directed Kenya Airways to immediately reinstate sacked engineers and technicians pending hearing and determination of the case. The engineers and technicians are challenging the airline's decision to sack them on claims they had engaged in unprotected strike. The airline's lawyer Monday requested the court to give them up to Tuesday to file a response in the case. The request was granted by the court. The judge, however, noted that it would be unsafe for the public to fly in unserviced aircrafts, hence the order that they be reinstated as the case is litigated in court. The carrier was last Tuesday stopped from replacing the more than 130 technical staff. <br/>