Flights canceled as power outage hits NAIA

May 2 ----- A POWER outage hit the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 early Monday, forcing the cancellation of at least 40 domestic flights.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said electricity at the terminal was cut off at 1:05 a.m. crippling airport operations, disrupting Cebu Pacific flights and stranding thousands of outgoing passengers. The MIAA said standby power supplied critical facilities "enabling computer systems of airlines and immigration to function partially for both inbound and outbound passengers. As a result, delayed flights shall be expected."

The authority apologized "to air travelers for the inconvenience that the situation may have brought to them." Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines spokesman Eric Apolonio said power was restored at around 9:30 a.m.

Cebu Pacific had to cancel flights to and from Tuguegarao, Daraga, Cagayan, Cauayan, Dipolog, Puerto Princesa, Caticlan, Cebu, Panglao, Bacolod, Davao, Butuan, Zamboanga, General Santos, Ozamiz, Iloilo, Tacloban, Cotabato and Pagadian.During a press conference in the day, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) manager Noel Espiritu blamed the outage to what he described as a "fault current," or an unintended, uncontrolled, high current flow through an electric power system.

The fault current caused the terminal's circuit breakers to trip, Espiritu said.A Meralco technical team replaced a component in the electrical system that was "stressed" by the high current, he said.Meralco's relationship manager for the national government Aquilino Santiago 3rd explained that had the circuit breaker not worked, there would have been an explosion that could have damaged the utility's substation at the airport.Earlier, Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga told a radio interview that initial investigation showed no problems in Meralco's power lines.

On Monday, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said he was not discounting sabotage as the cause of the outage. "We are not discounting sabotage, and Meralco, maybe, will also help us assess if there really was sabotage. That is why we really need to study this thoroughly," Bautista said. He said the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency has been asked to help investigate the disruption. Bautista said he was also calling for a full electrical audit of the terminal. The last audit was in 2017, and not all the audit's recommendations were implemented.

Bautista said 15 minutes after power was cut, a team from Meralco arrived at Terminal 3.The terminal's generator sets temporarily supplied power to mission-critical systems such as check-in counters, immigration, final security X-ray, aerobridges, arrival baggage carousel, elevators, escalators, walkalators, air conditioning and lights. "There were also some flights delayed, but there were no international flights canceled, though some were delayed," said Bautista.

Source: manilatimes.net