A passenger takes a nap on the floor inside the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 while waiting for a scheduled flight on Tuesday, a day after the airport experienced a power outage. Danny Pata
The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) has announced it will take at least two more days before the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) – Terminal 3 returns to normal operation following a 8-hour brownout on Monday.
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) department has formed a special team to conduct a thorough investigation of the power outage that resulted in the cancellation of 50 domestic flights and the delayed arrival and departure of international flights.
The power interruption that started around 1 a.m. affected 9,000 air travelers, most of whom got sick, especially stranded senior citizens.
MIAA senior assistant general manager Bryan Co said the special team from the airport management and Manila Electric Co. will conduct a joint technical assessment with assistance from an independent third-party expert to determine the causes of the power interruption.
Meralco Engr. Noel Espiritu said initial investigation showed that the power outage was caused by either a faulty wire or short-circuit, which resulted to a high amount of power current and fault indicator.
But according to Co, they are still not ruling out the possibility of sabotage.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the MIAA will also conduct a full electrical audit for all terminals to avoid future power interruptions and passenger inconveniences.
The DOTr said it will also coordinate with the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) to investigate possible security issues.
The MIAA meanwhile said Philippine airspace will be shut down on May 17 to give way for maintenance activities on the country’s air traffic management system to avoid a repeat of the infamous New Year’s Day shutdown.
MIAA General Manager Cesar Chiong announced that the entire Philippine airspace will be shut down for a “major activity.”
Sen. Win Gatchalian on Tuesday said NAIA officials should immediately conduct an audit of all its facilities, including an electrical audit, and make the necessary upgrade if need be.
He assailed the May 1 airport glitch that hit NAIA 3 which caused the cancellation of more than 40 flights, affecting thousands of travelers.
“This incident that happened was not acceptable. This disgusting event happened few months after the entire air transport system was paralyzed during the New Year,” he said.
“We should have learned our lessons from the New Year incident and appropriate redundancy measures should have been put into place to avoid a repeat of such incident,” he said.
The incident was not the first time in NAIA under the supervision ofMIAA. There were also power interruptions during the time of then MIAA general managers Eddie Monreal and Jose Angel Honrado.
Even President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., during his time as senator, called for the resignation of Honrado and then Transportation secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya for the five-hour brownout happened at NAIA Terminal 1 in 2016, which resulted in the cancellations of more than 80 flights.