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Crews making progress in restoring A/C system to full capacity at Bush Airport

On Monday, the airport spent all day bringing in portable AC units and installing temporary chillers to pick up the slack of ones that are down.

HOUSTON — 6-15 UPDATE: The Houston Airport System sent this update on Wednesday afternoon: "In leveraging all available resources, including temporary chillers, Houston Airports has reached the capacity necessary to maintain the air conditioning system at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. All five airport terminals are now cooling at a comfortable temperature, even during today’s extreme heat.

"In prioritizing employees and passengers, on Thursday, June 15, Houston Airports will connect a fifth temporary chiller, which will supplement the airport’s air conditioning system as our Maintenance Division continues to address an affected portion of the system."

Crews continue to work Wednesday morning to restore the air conditioning system at Bush Intercontinental Airport to full capacity after chillers went down Sunday.

Airport officials said they are making progress as crews have partially restored the chillers that went out at its central utility plant.

Crews have been working around the clock since the chillers went down, officials said. 

On Monday, they said they lost two of their six chillers within hours of each other starting on Sunday. As of Tuesday night, a fourth temporary chiller has been added to pick up the slack to keep the airport as comfortable as possible.

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Here was their latest update Tuesday morning:

“Our airport maintenance crews continued the work overnight and have partially restored the functionality of the affected chillers in the Central Utility Plant. Additionally, the temporary chillers are plugged into the CUP and are helping to cool the terminals, providing additional capacity to the air conditioning system for the airport.

“We appreciate your patience and understanding as we continue to work around the clock to fully restore the air conditioning system at Bush Airport.”

"I wish it was fixed. I'm like sweating, but that's my fault too for wearing this," one traveler said. "Things happen, what are you going to do? You can't fix it. Mechanical stuff breaks down.”

Officials have not given an exact timeline for when the issue will be fixed.

Here's an update provided at IAH on Monday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.

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