The blackout that left the runway at Las Americas International Airport without lights on Sunday, 23 May in the evening, affected 15 flights.
The blackout forced three flights to stay in the air until they could land, two in San Juan Puerto Rico and a third in Punta Cana, was confirmed as sabotage.
The failure in the lights occurred at 7:10pm on the evening of Sunday 23 May 2021, triggering security alarms to activate various protocols on the ground. Flights UA 204 IAD, of United Airlines and Iberia IB650 were diverted to Punta Cana International Airport. Sky High from St. Kitts and Nevis, was instructed to land in La Romana International. Jet Blue flight B6 609 was diverted to the Cibao International Airport in Santiago.
Several Jet Blue flights had to return to their departure terminals, number B6 2037, flew back to San Juan, Puerto Rico and B6 2809, returned to New York, flight B6 2730, to Boston. Air France flight AF733 bound for Paris never took off.
It was also reported that six other flights were rescheduled to and from different cities in the United States and Europe, including two American Airlines flights, two JetBlue flights, one Spirit flight and one Air Europa flight.
Various state and government security agencies are investigating what is said to have been a sabotage to the electrical distribution networks. Initially, the failure was thought to have been caused by a short circuit, as announced by the Airport Security Corps (Cesac). But Vice President Raquel Peña promptly reported the airport had been affected by vandalism.
A note from Las Americas International Airport gives the following explanation for the incident in which the runway lights and taxiways were temporarily out of service:
- On Sunday night, 23 May, an act of vandalism occurred, with the intentional cutting of the electrical cables of the circuit that feeds the runway lighting system of the AILA-JFPG (SDQ) airport, momentarily interrupting the lighting service on the runway.
- The Dominican aviation system has a robust protocol for events such as this, which was activated immediately and it was possible to reestablish airport operations, guaranteeing at all times operational and passenger safety.
- The event is being investigated by the competent authorities, who are working to determine the intellectual and material authors of this serious event. The persons will be brought to justice so that they receive the full weight of the law.
- The quick action and good coordination between all civil and military authorities allowed the reestablishment of all air services at the AILA-JFPG in record time. At present, all air operations at the airport are being carried out normally.
- All affected passengers were attended in time by the airlines. Today, Monday, those who could not be transferred on Sunday night due to the event are being transferred.
- Additional information, if available, will be shared with the press as soon as it becomes available.
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El Caribe
El Caribe
25 May 2021