Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 2) — Hundreds of canceled and delayed flights, and thousands of affected passengers.
‘
This is the situation at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) as of Monday even after its Air Traffic Management Center (ATMC) resumed normal operations Sunday afternoon following technical issues with power supply that affected communication, radio, radar, and internet on New Year’s Day.
‘
Several Cebu Pacific flights were canceled, while some flight schedules for Monday may change at any given time.
‘
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the ATMC returned to normal operations at 5:50 p.m. on Sunday while equipment restoration is still ongoing.
‘
More than 65,000 passengers were affected by the glitch, he said.
‘
CAAP Director General Manuel Tamayo said during a briefing Sunday evening that the issue occurred after one of the uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) failed to operate, so troubleshooting had to be done.
‘
He admitted that the system is already outdated since this was first used in 2010, but only went online in 2018.
‘
Tamayo noted that the Transportation chief already recommended the installation of a backup system even before the recent incident occurred.
‘
“Huge money” will be needed to do this, more than the ₱13 billion borrowed from the Japan International Cooperation Agency to finance the existing system, Bautista said.
‘
“Although it’s a system introduced in 2010, na-implement natin ito in 2018 so parang midlife na itong system na ito na kailangan siguro nating i-improve or modernize,” he said. “We can still use it but we need to upgrade this to a better system.”
‘
[Translation: Although it’s a system introduced in 2010, it was only implemented in 2018, so it’s like the system already reached its midlife so it needs to be improved or modernized.]
‘
Flight operations are expected to normalize within three days, Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Cesar Chiong said.
‘
“We’re expecting 72 hours po siguro (maybe) for them to fully recover the flights. Most of the flights arriving are going to be very full, pati ang paalis (even those departuring),” he said.
‘
Chiong also said NAIA’s runway, which usually closes from 1:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m., will be operating 24/7 in the coming days.
‘
Authorities are also asking airlines to deploy planes with bigger capacities to accommodate more passengers.
‘
Bautista said authorities continue to coordinate with the airlines, other airports, and operators to address the situation.
‘
