Electrical outage causes ground stop at Philadelphia International Airport

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A brief electrical issue at Philadelphia International Airport caused a ground stop Saturday.

The issue only affected American Airlines.

Passengers Action News spoke with said they are frustrated that technical issues are disrupting travel.

"I waited around for a couple of hours and I was told that flight couldn't go because there was some sort of glitch in the system. So, they asked me to wait for around two hours which I did, and they said well too bad we can't leave right now we have to wait for another 3 hours," said Justus Phine, of Northeast Philadelphia.

Three American Airlines flights were canceled by Saturday's electrical outage.

American Airlines released a statement saying in part,

"Our teams worked quickly with the airport's electricians to resolve the issue, and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience. Systems have returned after a brief electrical issue at Philadelphia International Airport."

Officials say Saturday's electrical issue was not part of the issues at PHL TRACON. That problem has caused several radar outages that impacted air traffic control communications at Newark International.

State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta was scheduled to fly Saturday. He voiced his frustrations with the travel woes on X.

The electrical issue forced his flight for a work trip to be canceled..

"I was at Philadelphia International Airport this afternoon, supposed to be going on a work flight to New Hampshire. My flight was delayed three or four times and effectively needed to cancel," said Kenyatta.