Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 1) — Electricity was restored to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA) after a power outage led to the cancellation of over 40 flights, affecting over 9,000 passengers on Labor Day, officials said.
LIST: Canceled, delayed flights due to NAIA power outage
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is in the United States for an official visit, tasked Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista to immediately fix the problem and attend to affected passengers.
Before power was restored, Bautista said MIAA turned on its generator to cover important functions in Terminal 3 including check-in operations and departures. Elevators, escalators, and the central air-conditioning system weren’t operational during the power outage.
The inconvenience and intense heat in the terminal led to restlessness among the travelers. Some even said they received alerts from the airlines when they were already at the airport.
“Sana i-rebook nila kami ng ibang ano. Kasi tulad ngayon importante talaga. May mga work. So pano na ngayon? It’s either sobrang mahal or wala na, tomorrow na,” passenger Che Escobedo said.
She added, “Sana may humarap sa amin na taga-Cebu Pacific. Yun lang naman e kung ano ang gagawin. Minsan sinisigawan pa kami ng mga guard, parang kami pa ang perwisyo dito. Pinapaalis pa kami.
[Translation: I hope they rebook us because this trip is important, we have work. Either it’s too expensive or there are no more flights. I hope representatives from Cebu Pacific talk to us to tell us what to do. The guard even scolded us as if we are an inconvenience, they’re asking us to leave.]
WATCH: Stranded passengers are restless as they continue to wait for authorities to manage the situation amid the power outage at NAIA Terminal 3 on Labor Day. | @GergCahiles pic.twitter.com/o1PIrTmw8F
— CNN Philippines (@cnnphilippines) May 1, 2023
Possible causes under investigation
CNN Philippines’ Lara Tan, Gerg Cahiles, and Seth Cabanban contributed to this report.
In a press conference in the afternoon after the outage, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the power outage began at 1:05 a.m.
A Meralco team arrived 15 minutes later to address the interruption. Meralco and the MIAA were able to put up regular power by 8:46 a.m. Bautista said. “Since then, the operations of NAIA has commenced using the regular Meralco power.”
The outage disrupted over 40 flights. An official of budget carrier Cebu Pacific said 9,391 passengers were affected.
The MIAA said that flights out of Terminal 3 would resume in the next 24 hours. “As of 1 this afternoon, we were able to operate about 247 flights out of all the flights that we have at NAIA. For context, we normally operate about 750 to 760 flights,” the airport operator said.
However, he said back-up power was unable to support the entire terminal’s requirements, leaving many passengers in the airport distressed.
Meralco and the MIAA said they are investigating the possible cause behind the power outage.
“There was a fault indication at the main circuit breaker of NAIA Terminal 3 and that fault ay nag-trigger ng opening ng main circuit breaker nila kaya nawalan ng power,” an official of Meralco said.
[Translation: The fault was triggered by the opening of the main circuit breaker, which is why power was lost.]
Meralco said there are a number of possible causes but said it originated from the airport’s power system.
Bautista said NAIA Terminal 3, which began operations in 2009, last saw an electrical audit in 2017. However, he said recommendations from the last audit were not implemented.
An official also said electrical audits were supposed to take place every five years. There was no audit in 2022.
Meralco recommended a full electrical audit for Terminal 3, and possibly for Terminals 1 and 2 as well.
Reporters then asked if the DOTr was investigating possible angles to power outages taking place during high-traffic days.
“Kinausap na namin ang National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and sabi nila they will conduct an investigation about this. Dahil nga kung nangyari yan noong September, at noong January 1, and ngayong Labor Day nangyari ulit,” Bautista said.
[Translation: We spoke to the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and they said that they will investigate. Because what happened in September, and last Jan. 1, it happened again on Labor Day.]
He added: “Marami kasing mga possibilities, siguro ang mga iniisip ninyo ay meron bang sabotage [There are many possibilities. You are probably thinking that there was sabotage]. Meralco will also help us assess if there was sabotage or not.”
On Jan 1, a power outage shut down the air traffic management system, leaving thousands of passengers stranded on New Year’s Day and airport losses reaching ₱100 million.
