Chick-fil-A opens on a Sunday for passengers at Atlanta's airport

ATLANTA - Chick-fil-A on a Sunday? A true Christmas miracle!

Late Sunday night, while Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport worked to restore power during a massive outage that crippled air travel at the nation's busiest airport, officials handed out Chick-fil-A and water to stranded passengers.

"Lights on and delivering food and water to our passengers," the airport said on Twitter, thanking Chick-fil-A Chairman and CEO Dan Cathy for opening on a Sunday.

The fast-food chain is famously known for being closed on Sundays, a decision that dates back to 1964 when Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant in Hapeville. Cathy wanted his employees to set aside one day of the week to have the opportunity to rest and worship.

Truett Cathy's son, Dan Cathy, made an exception and worked with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed to pass out thousands of meals to hungry passengers.

Power was restored at Atlanta's airport around midnight, nearly 11 hours after the outage began.

MORE: Atlanta's airport working to get back to normal operations after outage

News Us