It felt like the world was ending today. The power went out at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport early this morning (or was it last night?) so flights and their schedules, their gate assignments, and everything else got screwed up. Many flights were cancelled. Our Manila reporter’s flight was delayed four hours and I was messaging her while my PAL plane was still at the tarmac in Changi and her Cebu Pacific plane was stuck in the NAIA tarmac because they were still waiting for a gate to be freed up. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I was messaging my reporter friend whose beat is transportation, asking him if NAIA would be saner by the time my plane touches down Manila. He said, “expect the worst.”

And I opened the transport dept media group chat and this is what they said:

DOTr Press Release
01 May 2023

DISCUSSIONS WITH MERALCO ONGOING TO PREVENT RECURRENCE OF NAIA POWER OUTAGE: SEC. BAUTISTA

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and power distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) are discussing ways forward to prevent the recurrence of another power outage at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 as well as other terminals, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said Monday, 01 May 2023.

In a briefing, Secretary Bautista said DOTr officials immediately met with Meralco representatives even before power at the terminal was restored.

“We met with Meralco even before the power was returned. We also had discussions on how to move forward,” Secretary Bautista said.

Secretary Bautista explained after the power interruption at 1AM, a team from Meralco immediately arrived at the terminal to assess the situation. At 6AM, power from Meralco has been restored, with MIAA power restoration continued from 7AM until its complete full energization by 8:46AM.

The transport chief likewise noted that the MIAA immediately turned on its generator sets and partially supplied power to the check in system, immigration system, final security x-ray, arrival baggage carousel, elevators, escalators, air conditioning, and lights.

The NAIA Terminal 3 continued to operate using generators. Meanwhile, the power distributor was able to restore regular power at around 8:46 A.M., during which NAIA resumed using regular Meralco power, according to Secretary Bautista.

Teams from both the MIAA and Meralco performed equipment tests and diagnosis to determine the cause of the power interruption.

According to Meralco Engr. Noel Espiritu, the power outage was caused by either faulty wiring or short circuit, which resulted to a high amount of power current and fault indicator, adding that they are still looking into the cause of the power interruption.

“‘Yun po ang mga abnormalities sa sign ng circuit breaker kung saan kapag nasense yun ng fault indicator, yun po ay high amount of current na sya namang nasense ng fault indicator at dun nalaman namin kung saan i-trouble shoot, pero sa ngayon yun po ay amin pang tinitingnan ang eksaktong cause ng fault current,” Engr. Espiritu said.

Secretary Bautista said the MIAA will immediately conduct a “full electrical audit” for all terminals to avoid future power interruptions and passenger inconveniences. For the NAIA Terminal 3, the full electrical audit will take three months to be completed.

The result of the full electrical audit will allow the MIAA to determine which critical equipment and services will be needing budgeting and subsequent procurement.

The MIAA and Meralco will conduct a joint technical assessment with assistance from an independent third party expert to determine the power interruption cause, according to Secretary Bautista.

The DOTr will also coordinate with the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) to investigate possible security issues.

Secretary Bautista expressed his gratitude to Meralco for its swift response to the situation and working with MIAA authorities to restore power.

Secretary Bautista likewise apologized to the affected passengers, who had their flights cancelled or delayed due to the power outage.

Affected passengers were provided water and food through the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), he said.