The Air Traffic Control Tower at Bermuda’s airport temporarily lost communications during the power cut on Monday evening, forcing a flight to return to Miami.

Skyport, the operator for LF Wade International Airport, said that generator back-up systems were initiated following the outage that plunged parishes to the east of the island into the dark, as well as some customers in Pembroke.

However, the communications still went down.

Skyport said: “The LF Wade International Airport passenger terminal and airfield facilities have standard generator back-up systems that kicked in following the East End power outage at 9.53pm.

“However, the Air Traffic Control Tower facility, managed by the Bermuda Airport Authority, experienced a temporary loss of communication due to the power outage, which was then restored.

“The communications interruption led to American Airlines flight 409, which had been placed in a holding pattern shortly after departure, opting to return to Miami.

“Meanwhile, BermudAir flights 452 en route from Fort Lauderdale and 224 from Westchester, New York, continued to Bermuda, arriving safely at just after 10.30pm.

“The diverted Miami flight was rescheduled for this morning, arriving in Bermuda at approximately 10.15am.”

The blackout shortly before 10pm on Monday affected about 9,000 customers at its height.

Shelly Leman, Belco’s managing director, said: “Belco crews were immediately dispatched to resolve the outage and power was restored to all customers by 11.03pm.”

The power company is investigating the cause of the blackout.