WAILUKU >> A power outage at an airport on Maui was caused by a chicken.

That’s right. A chicken.

The chicken got into a Maui Electric Co. transformer in the rental car area at Kahului Airport on Tuesday afternoon. It caused a power outage that began at 2:07 p.m. that left some passengers having to disembark their planes the old-fashioned way — by mobile stairway.

The airport tower and air traffic was not affected, according to The Maui News.

The chicken got into a Maui Electric Co. transformer in the rental car area at Kahului Airport, Maui Electric company spokeswoman Kaui Awai-Dickson said. Power was restored about a half-hour later. The outage affected the airport and nearby businesses, including the rental car companies, a hotel and department store.

After about a half hour, customers were restored with power with the exception of the rental car companies located just outside the airport. All power was restored at 3:25 p.m.

During the outage, security screenings were performed manually and some electronic doors had to be manned by Transportation Security Administration officials, said Maui District airport manager Marvin Moniz.

He said the outage caused some flight delays of no more than 15 minutes.