LOCAL : John Wayne Airport Back in Service

Operations were back to normal at John Wayne Airport today after the blast from jet engines damaged new electrical cables Monday night, causing the new runway lights to fail, officials said today.

Workers had not yet had a chance to bury the cables underground, and the jet blast blew off sandbags that were protecting the electrical line, airport manager George Rebella said. “It was kind of a freak situation,” he said. “The jet blast stretched the cables and exposed them to water, causing shorts.”

The new cables, at the north end of the main runway, would not have been affected by jet blast if air traffic controllers had not reversed the take-off pattern because of weather conditions, Rebella said. The new electrical system replaces a decades-old system that had shorted out repeatedly because it was worn out, Rebella said. More than a dozen airlines’ flights were diverted or cancelled because of the electrical failure, and some incoming passengers were bused to John Wayne from other airports late Monday night.

Airport officials said service was back to normal this morning. Airport spokeswoman Kathie Rutherford said the affected cables will be buried underground when the airport closes at 11 p.m. tonight, the normal curfew for incoming airline flights. She said the airport will also be closed to small general aviation aircraft at that time.