Brisbane Airport could be the second major airport to lose power worldwide following Heathrow Airport in London

A blackout at Brisbane Airport which led to more than two dozen flights delayed or cancelled has been logged as the first power loss at a major airport since London’s Heathrow debacle.

Travellers at Brisbane Airport on Tuesday morning. Picture: Debbie Kilroy/Twitter

A blackout at Brisbane Airport which led to more than two dozen flights delayed or cancelled has been logged as the first power loss at a major airport since London’s Heathrow debacle.

International aviation expert Neil Hansford also criticised the emergency lighting system at Brisbane Airport as “insufficient”.

Brisbane Airport was plunged into darkness between 5.20am and 6.20am on Tuesday after a fault at the precinct’s substation knocked out electricity to the northern end of the domestic terminal.

The incident led to the cancellation of four flights and delays to 23 others.

It is the first major airport to go dark since a substation fire forced London’s Heathrow to shut for 16 hours — a global debacle which impacted 270,000 passengers amid the cancellation of 1000 flights.

Travellers arriving at Brisbane’s domestic terminal on Tuesday morning were met with a power outage.

Brisbane Airport spokesman Peter Doherty said the airport supplied electricity to more than 600 businesses located across the precinct, with “consumption equivalent to a small Queensland town”.

“On top of this external supply, there are also standby diesel generators to assist during an extended interruption,” he said.

“Brisbane Airport has reliable emergency power, and we are continuing to invest in the terminal power network as part of the $5 billion Future BNE upgrade of the precinct.

“Electricians were onsite within 15 minutes and quickly able to restore power to the impacted parts of the Domestic Terminal, while emergency safety lighting was activated automatically.”

The Courier-Mail understands that taxiway lighting was not impacted and have separate backup systems.

Mr Hansford said it was the first time he had heard of a major airport losing power outside of the Heathrow incident.

“I’ve not seen the problem, Heathrow had it but it was a fire in the sub station that has been the only one I am aware of anywhere in the world,” he said.

Mr Hansford labelled the current emergency lighting system as “insufficient.”

“Emergency power is only providing for lighting not enough grunt to keep the primary function like baggage carousels operating, there is an under investment in the backup power and that’s the problem with Australian airports since we provided leases to private leases to airports,” he said.

Originally published as Brisbane Airport could be the second major airport to lose power worldwide following Heathrow Airport in London