Power outage hits NAIA Terminal 3

[_Cathy_]

Just when I thought our airports couldn't get any worse.

I am at complete disbelief!

BLACKOUT. Power goes out at the NAIA Terminal 3 on Saturday evening, April 2. Photo by Bryan Banquil via Twitter

MANILA, Philippines (4th UPDATE) – Power went out at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 on Saturday evening, April 2.
Some netizens posted photos and video of the power outage on Twitter.


The Twitter account of NAIA replied to these tweets, confirming that there was indeed no power at Terminal 3. It then said that NAIA is “currently assessing the situation to have the power back on."


In a phone interview, an airport operations staff who requested anonymity told Rappler that the blackout started at around 8:45 pm.

He said that the system is “down” at the terminal, affecting operations at the departure area. However, he added that operations at the arrival area still continue.

Just before 11 pm, however, netizens onboard some of the planes tweeted and quoted pilots as saying all arrivals and departures were on hold.

The airport staff also said that NAIA is trying to determine the cause of the power outage.

An April 1 notice by Meralco said that maintenance schedules from 11:30 pm of April 2 until 4:30 am of April 3 would affect a "portion of NAIA Road from Domestic Road to near Electrical Road in Pasay City." The reason cited was the "relocation of facilities affected by the construction of NAIA Expressway project along NAIA Road in Pasay City."

It was not clear if the power outage at Terminal 3 was related to this.

Shortly before midnight, a pilot of a Cebu Pacific plane that landed at about 10:50 pm from Bacolod announced to passengers that departure planes were not allowed to leave and that all terminal bays were occupied.

Rappler's Mara Mercado who is on board that plane reported that a stewardess announced to them, "We have lost communication with our wrap control. No one can assign us to our proper bay assignment."

Passengers have not been able to disembark from planes despite having landed hours ago. As of 12:30 am, Mercado reported, "The planes are being manually towed to any free terminal bay."

Ariel Arcilla of the Media Affairs office told Rappler, “Passengers/planes now being directed to Terminal 4 for offboarding.”

Track record

The power outage is yet another addition to the string of inconveniences at NAIA Terminal 3. In January, part of the ceiling at the same terminal collapsed, slightly injuring a foreign passenger.

Terminal 3 opened in 2008 after an extended legal battle between the government and the Filipino-German consortium that built it. Terminal 3 has not suffered any major incidents since it underwent a major rehabilitation in 2013-14.

Prior to the incident that involved the collapsed ceiling last January, passengers had complained about leaks, collapsed floors, malfunctioning equipment, congestion, dilapidated facilities, and rude or corrupt personnel.

All these combined earned for Manila a reputation that pushed it to the top of the list of the world's worst airports compiled by the travel website "The Guide to Sleeping in Airports" from 2011-13. It got off the list after congestion problems were eased by more passengers passing through Terminal 3. – Rappler.com

[K.I.L.L.]

Oh boy... Just when I thought they were already improving...

[StockEngine]

LTO
BoC
NAIA

Sige pa lol

[macsd]

Just when I thought our airports couldn't get any worse.

I am at complete disbelief!

Not until you have 2 incompetent idiots Abaya & Honrado running the show.

[chua_riwap]

Kahit brownout, wala bang backup power genset ang T3? Tang nang airport yan, walang silbi.....

[Stigg ma]

Kahit brownout, wala bang backup power genset ang T3? Tang nang airport yan, walang silbi.....

backup? what are you talking about? we're in a government run by dumb people, when LTO is offline, is there a backup? NONE!

and yes there are physical gensets there, but the diesel fuel is long gone/stolen and you just cant purchase large quantities of diesel in a day for an excuse that its missing...

anything that has to do with DOTC is a fail because the very head is a FAIL! ABAYA FAIL!

[_Cathy_]

T3 was in darkness for 5 hours I think. That's a security nightmare

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[yebo]

kasalanan ni Pnoy yan!

no, wait!
kasalanan ni Mar yan! kung si duterte ang presidente gawin nyang sinlaki ng changi ang naia, etc, etc, etc. at gagawin niya yan in 3-6 months lang ha!

[unmarked]

This is where our taxes go to, people. Incompetence within the govt is un-f*cking-believable.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[dr. d]

so what caused the power outage?
... hard to blame anyone if the cause is unknown...

[unmarked]

No one knows pa. Baka di na rin natin malaman kung ano talaga lol. Sabi ng tropa ko ung mga foreigners nung nakalabas na ng plane, were hugging each other. Lol akala siguro nila terror or something. 3 hours on the plane ung tropa from landing to de-planeing. Grabe!

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[dreamur]

Heads should roll....

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[macsd]

Sabi ng tropa ko ung mga foreigners nung nakalabas na ng plane, were hugging each other. Lol akala siguro nila terror or something.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

This is new gmik ng DOT, upon arrival pa lang thrilling na...."It's more Fun in the Philippines"

[kimbon]

I was in NAIA 3 to pick up my nephew yesterday at exactly 4pm. buti nangyari ito ng evening otherwise nag wala si nephew. bugnutin pa naman ang batang yan.

[dreamur]

5-hour blackout at NAIA3 forces planes to land at other terminals, strands thousands

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[dreamur]

If I were Pnoy, this is where I draw the line -Abaya and Honrado should submit their resignation papers on Monday! You want to support the administration yet you have this embarrassing situation that slaps you in the face and leave you hurting ang frustrated. Meantime Abaya will just issue a general statement that he will look into the generator system when obviously it is more than that. What an incompetent and ineffective head that should be severed with a sharp ax!

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[Mang Jose]

Not until you have 2 incompetent idiots Abaya & Honrado running the show.

Agree. How about the GM of T3 Bing Lina? He should have ensured that gensets are available for backup power

[zoomzoom]

5 oras? Sobra naman yan.

Anyare sa backup?

"Unaccepatable" is an understatement for this situation.

Oh baka naman praktis yan para sa Election Day?

Congrats PAbaya, Honrado, et. al., di pa rin kayo patatasikin.

Palpak pa more.

[NightRock]

Parang mas worse pa ang T3 kesa T1 I can't imagine 5hrs na walang power yon nga may power napakainit na sa loob lahat ng passenger pawisan lalo na mga 3PM pag palubog na araw sakto sa depature

[Monseratto]

Sino magiging scapegoat dito?

5-HOUR AIRPORT POWER OUTAGE
One generator set at NAIA-3 failed —DOTC chief
Published April 3, 2016 2:43pm

A drained generator set probably due to poor maintenance was one of the reasons of the five-hour power outage at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3) that left hundreds of passengers stranded.

"Sabi niya may na-drain [na battery]. Hindi nagkick-in ang isang genset (generator set) natin. May drainage sa battery power... Hindi nag-transmit ng power sa building (NAIA-3) mismo," Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya told radio dzBB in an interview on Sunday morning, referring to NAIA-3 manager Octavio Lina.

Abaya said that there were 10 gensets at the NAIA-3 and that the other nine worked.

"Batteries ang pinapaliwanag sa atin kung bakit hindi nagkick-in to the switch gears," he added.

Abaya said that there is a possibility that the gensets were not properly maintained.

"I have to check... Tinitingnan natin if it was fully drained, there was no charing prior to this, it was charged but did not switch...," the transportation secretary said, enumerating possible reasons why the genset failed.

He said that airport officials failed to immediately determine the real cause of the power outage because their priority was to restore power so that operations would resume.

The blackout at the NAIA-3 happened at past 8 a.m. and power was fully restored at past 2 a.m., Abaya said.

The NAIA-3's operations were fully restored before noon Sunday, based on an advisory by the Manila International Airport Authority on its Facebook account.

The MIAA said the power outage at the NAIA-3 happened after a substation of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) at around 8:45 p.m. Saturday.

Meralco, meanwhile, said that the glitch was restored in less than a minute.

It said that the five-hour power outage could have been caused by "trouble on the customer's loadside."

More than 100 flights were canceled and delayed following the power outage.

Heads will roll?

Asked if "heads will roll" over the rare power outage, Abaya said their priority was to restore the operations of the NAIA-3.

"Alamin natin kung ano ang tunay na dahilan para hindi maulit muli... Ang 'heads will roll' madali na po iyan," he said.

Meanwhile, Abaya said that he will order the full checking of all gensets at the NAIA and other big airport nationwide.

“If the problem is maintenance, then we have to check not only in Manila but dapat tignan muli ang maintenance procedures ng airport nationwide,” he said.

Security and safety

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) spokesperson Eric Apolonio, meanwhile, said that procedures are in place for similar emergencies to assure the safety of passengers.

Apolinio said the airlines were immediately informed of the situation through their communications tower.

“Kapag nagkaroon ng power glitch, automatic po ‘yan na advised ang mga airline na umiikot to go on hold muna,” he said.

Apolinio explained that the separation time between the arriving and departing airplanes from airlines had to be prolonged.

A report by the Philippine News Agency said some flights that were supposed to land on the NAIA-3 were diverted to the other NAIA terminals (1, 2 and 4) that were not affected by the outage.

Apolinio assured no violations of the safety procedures were committed during the power outage.

“Inspite na kulang ang power sa nasabing terminal ay nakalapag naman at nakaalis ang mga airlines although medyo na-delay,” he said.

He also reminded the passengers of the cancelled and delayed flights of their claims as inscribed by the Air Passenger Bill of Rights.

“Protektado naman ang mga pasahero diyan. Kaya wala po silang dapat ipag-alala. Ang mga airlines po ay i-a-assist sila,” he said.

Meanwhile, Apolonio said that standby gensets would naturally fail in case a whole terminal is hit by a blackout.

“Kapag standy gensets talaga ang ginagamit, mediyo mahina talaga ang binibigay na kuryente at apektado ang security process screening. Ang NAIA ang laki-laki niyan, malaki ang equipment,” he said. —Kiersnerr Gerwin Tacadena/ALG, GMA News

- See more at: One generator set at NAIA-3 failed —DOTC chief | News | GMA News Online