NEW YEAR’S day brought air travel to a halt in Philippine skies, as technical glitches forced delays, diversions, or even outright cancellations to 360 flights to and from Manila.
In a press conference on Sunday night, January 1, transportation secretary Jaime Bautista blamed a power problem in Naia terminals that resulted in a loss of communication, radio, radar, and internet.
Manuel Tamayo, director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), explained that one of the uninterrupted power supply (UPS) blowers went down at 9:49 a.m. When a backup UPS failed to go online, the system had to be manually reconnected to the commercial power supply. In a domino effect of misfortune, the reconnection resulted in a power surge, destroying sensitive equipment that could receive satellite data.
Transport officials are currently working to restore the system. By 10:00 p.m on Sunday, at least 12 international flights were already able to land in the Manila airport. Airport officials estimate that flights will fully recover within 72 hours.
At the press conference, Bautista said that it will take a “huge amount of money” to upgrade the existing air traffic management system.
“This is not really an airport issue,” said the transport chief. “This is an air traffic management system issue. If you will compare us with Singapore, for one, malaking difference. They are at least 10 years ahead of us.”
Nevertheless, his agency will be preparing a feasibility study for presentation to the National Economic and Development Authority.
MVP flight rerouted from Japan
Among the travelers affected because of the technical failures was Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas chairman emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan.
We’re told radar and navigation facilities at NAIA down,” he said in a tweet on Sunday afternoon. “I was on my way home fm Tokyo - 3 hours into the flight, but had to return to Haneda.”
Pangilinan, who also runs the Meralco Bolts, the NLEX Road Warriors, and TnT Tropang Giga, added: “6 hours of useless flying but inconvenience to travelers and losses to tourism and business are horrendous. Only in the PH. Sigh.”
In a later tweet, he said that the MVP group of companies was willing to help the Department of Transportation or the CAAP.
“[C]olocation of 2nd, even 3rd, redundancies in our nationwide data centers, required connectivities - fiber, satellite, wireless - robust even redundant power supply protection etc.Let’s all support,” said the executive, who also said that he was only able to get home at 11 p.m.
On Sunday, Bolts’ parent company Meralco (which is part of the MVP group of companies) had issued a statement regarding the power outage that affected the air navigation systems.
“Upon initial analysis, there were no trouble or issues affecting Meralco distribution facilities and no power outage or fluctuation was likewise monitored or reported as far as Meralco’s power lines and facilities are concerned,” it said.
It is closely coordinating with airport management regarding the incident.
At the press conference, Bautista made clear that the power distribution was not to blame.
“We have uninterrupted power supply. The problem was not the electricity coming from Meralco, but with the CAAP equipment.”
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