Power outage hits NAIA Terminal 3

**_Cathy_** · April 3rd, 2016 02:02 AM

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.** · April 3rd, 2016 02:10 AM

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

**StockEngine** · April 3rd, 2016 02:26 AM

LTO
BoC
NAIA

Sige pa lol

**macsd** · April 3rd, 2016 08:52 AM

Originally Posted by _Cathy_

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** · April 3rd, 2016 10:58 AM

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

**Stigg ma** · April 3rd, 2016 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by chua_riwap

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_** · April 3rd, 2016 11:18 AM

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

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**yebo** · April 3rd, 2016 11:20 AM

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!