Power outage hits NAIA anew

MANILA, Philippines — The Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3) was struck by another power outage yesterday, the third to hit the airport this year.

The power interruption lasted from 12:51 p.m. to 1:29 p.m., with the terminal having no airconditioning and airline counters running on emergency generators.

Manila International Airport Authority officer-in-charge Bryan Co said the MIAA conducted a scheduled electrical audit of the power service improvement at Roadway 1 and 2 substations at around 7:45 a.m. yesterday.

He said the MIAA “re-energized power” at around 12:50 p.m. and received reports of the NAIA-3 power outage at around 12:52 p.m. All electrical systems were restored by 1:29 p.m., according to Co.

“The cause of the interruption was due to left testing equipment at Roadway Substation 2 after re-energizing of power,” he said.

Co added that the MIAA will procure several six-megawatt generators to supply the NAIA with electricity in case of another power outage.

Communication between the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines’ control tower and NAIA-3 was affected by the power outage until the generators switched on.

The NAIA-3 previously experienced power outages on Jan. 1 and May 1 this year. A power interruption occurred at the airport in September 2022.

While there were no flight delays, the power outage caused long lines at immigration counters.

Some airline officials believe there is a connection between the power outages and the government’s push to privatize the airport’s operations.