Electrical failure at AILA was caused by an internal disconnect switch; cyberattack ruled out

Santo Domingo.– A failure in the internal sectionizer of the terminal building caused the interruption in the distribution of energy at the Las Américas International Airport, José Francisco Peña Gómez (AILA), reported Luis José López, director of Corporate Communication of Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI (Aerodom). The operating company ruled out that it was a cyberattack or an external action against the terminal. According to the technicians, the event was caused exclusively by the failure in the switchgear, a mechanism in charge of distributing energy to the different areas of the building.

"The internal systems couldn't process the travelers, even though the runway and control tower had electricity through an independent system," explained López.

Although the general electrical grid had a supply, the device presented failures that prevented the flow to the different circuits of the airport, which affected both the arrival and departure operations of passengers.

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Aerodom reported that it is working on repairing the equipment and that, as a preventive measure, it hired additional emergency generators to keep the substations operational in case the solution was not immediate.