The Department of Transportation (DOTr) will soon conduct a “full electrical audit” at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 and other terminals, to avoid the reoccurrence of power outage incident that affected over 9,000 passengers and 48 flights yesterday, Labor Day.
NAIA operator Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said Terminal 3 experienced a power outage on or about 1:05 a.m. yesterday that resulted in flight cancellations and flight delays as the power generator was only able to partially supply the critical facilities in the airport.
Power was fully restored at around 8:46 a.m.
In a press briefing, DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista said the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) will conduct a “full electrical audit” where the entire electrical system will be checked.
Bautista said the DOTr will also tap the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency to conduct a full investigation to help assess if this was caused by a sabotage on the terminal’s operations.
To ensure uninterrupted power supply, MIAA said it will procure a power generator as part of its short term plan, and after the full audit, it will come up with the upgrade as part of its long term plan.
The DOTr and power distributor Manila Electric Co. are discussing “ways forward” but the company’s engineer, Noel Espiritu, the power outage was caused by either faulty wiring or a short circuit, which resulted in a high amount of power current and fault indicator.
Bautista said the DOTr will secure the necessary budget and undergo procurement activities before conducting a full electrical audit.
Bautista said the full electrical audit will be completed in 60 to 90 days for terminal 3.
The full audit would likely be extended to cover Terminals 1 and 2.
Cesar Chiong, MIAA general manager said, the outage that lasted for over seven hours affected over 9,300 passengers or about 7 percent of total daily passengers at Terminal 3.
As of 1 p.m. yesterday, 247 flights operated at Terminal 3, or less than half of the 750 to 760 daily flights.
MIAA said only domestic flights were affected by the power outage while all international flights will operate as scheduled.
Assistance to passengers
Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said all its 42 commercial airports are currently extending assistance to passengers affected by the recent power outage at NAIA.
In response to the incident, the CAAP has activated its Malasakit Help Desks, providing immediate assistance to stranded passengers. The Malasakit Help Desks are equipped with personnel, and essential supplies, such as food, water, and first aid kits, to ensure the comfort and safety of affected travelers.
Recovery flights are anticipated to accommodate stranded travelers, and airlines are already assisting passengers with rebooking and refunds. The CAAP is working closely with airlines to ensure that all affected passengers are taken care of.
The CAAP also assured management will continue to provide assistance until every affected passenger is accommodated.
Flight cancellations, delays
As of 12:30 pm yesterday, Cebu Pacific canceled a total of 48 domestic flights.
Mactan Cebu International Airport yesterday said that two flights were canceled and eight were delayed due to the power interruption.
AirAsia Philippines also announced a slight change in their estimated time of departure.
Lesson learned
Sen. Grace Poe scored DOTr and the NAIA management for not learning from the January 1 power outage that shuttered the Philippine air space.
“(Yesterday’s) incident shows another disruptive failure of the airport systems causing grave inconvenience to travelers. The lack of functioning air conditioners in several parts of the airport is not only troublesome but could even be precarious to health especially of the elderly,” Poe said in a statement.
Poe, Committee on Public Services chairperson, said power outage in the country’s airports is not acceptable as it adversely affects the airport’s systems.
Earlier this year, Poe led an inquiry into the New Year’s Day glitch at the NAIA which caused hundreds of flights either diverted, cancelled, or delayed.
After a series of hearings, Poe came out with a committee report which detailed the panel findings on the New Year’s Day glitch. These include the lack of “real” maintenance provided the airport’s equipment, the absence of redundancy or systems backup, several equipment were already malfunctioning before the glitch, and the CAAP’s poor compliance with the audit observations of the International Civil Aviation Organization , among others.
The panel recommended the “urgent replacement and upgrading of critical equipment” and “sufficient engineering guidelines and training of accredited engineers.”
Senate majority leader Joel Villanueva said transportation and airport authorities have a lot of explaining to do with the power outage which hit Terminal 3 yesterday.
Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada said this power outage could have been avoided if the necessary measures are already in place, at least in having an uninterruptible power supply considering the thinning of power supply this summer season and when demand usually peaks.
Estrada said officials should have studied well the findings of the committee so they can apply the necessary solutions to the problems.
Estrada said the January 1 glitch and May 1 power outage both happened during a holiday when lots of people are travelling by air.
He called on concerned agencies to give the public what is due them. With Raymond Africa
