Nightmare at Manila Airport: How power outage left more than 65,000 flyers stranded

New Year turned into a nightmare for tens of thousands of flyers who were stranded at an airport in the Philippines on 1 January. That, after a severe power outage temporarily disrupted a majority of flight operations in the country. According to The Associated Press, the power outage impacted nearly 300 flights in the Southeast Asian hub, causing misery for around 65,000 passengers. The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines had to put emergency measures in place as the chaotic situation worsened. The incident received massive backlash online with a Filipino Senator even demanding a probe into the matter while questioning how and why a power outage occurred in the first place. [caption id=“attachment_11914942” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Passengers wait for information about their flights at terminal 3 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay, Metro Manila on 1 January 2023. AFP[/caption] Also read: You may no longer have to take out phones, laptops at airport security checks. Here’s why What happened at Manila airport? Passengers were inconvenienced at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) after technical difficulties, according to the  Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP). The airport’s air traffic control system which handles all flights in Philippine airspace, lost communication, radio, radar, and internet because of the power outage. Over 300 flights were either delayed, cancelled, or diverted to other airports and around 65,000 passengers were stranded. The irate passengers took to social media to share their ordeal, sharing pictures and videos of long queues at various check-in counters. A local businessman said he was on his way back to Manila from Tokyo, but that the plane had to return to Haneda airport in Japan due to “radar and navigation facilities at NAIA being down.” Manny Pangilinan said, “Six hours of useless flying but an inconvenience to travellers and losses to tourism and business are horrendous.” He also said that his flight eventually landed in Manila at 11 pm local time.

A passenger shared a picture of a massive crowd and captioned it, “It is also necessary to have a blast in the new year at the Manila airport. All flights suspended indefinitely. Happy new year!”

Ay kailangan rin talaga magpasabog sa bagong taon ng manila airport. All flights suspended indefinitely. Happy new year! 🤷🏻‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/zf9Vv7Df7l

— RC (@rcwizard8) January 1, 2023

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Also read: Welcome Carpet or No Entry? How countries are divided on China's decision to restart international travel What did the authorities say? Philippine transportation secretary at a press conference Jaime Bautista apologised for the inconvenience caused to passengers. He said that though there was a backup power supply, it failed to supply enough power. CNN quoted Bautista as saying, “This was an air traffic management system issue. If you will compare (our airport) with Singapore’s, for one, there is a big difference – they are at least 10 years ahead of us.” He added that the transportation department has asked the airlines to offer food, accommodation, and transportation “free of charge to all affected passengers.” [caption id=“attachment_11914962” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Thousands of travellers were stranded at Philippine airports on January 1 after a “loss of communication” at the country’s busiest hub in Manila forced hundreds of flights to be cancelled, delayed or diverted. AFP[/caption] A Manila-bound Qantas airlines flight from Sydney was also affected by the outage. The flight was rerouted back to Australia within three hours of its eight-hour-long journey. Issuing a statement, Qantas said, “All airlines were prevented from arriving in Manila on Sunday afternoon as local authorities closed the local airspace. This meant our flight from Sydney had to turn around.” Also read: Like Delhi, Like Mumbai: Why chaos at airports continues Operations resume at the airport Flight operations partially resumed at 5.50 pm and inbound flights were allowed to arrive, according to an update shared by the CAAP. However, despite this, the power outage continued until the next day and several more flights were cancelled. Senate panel to probe the mess A senator has vowed to probe the incident. Filipino Senator Grace Poe tweeted, “What a way to welcome the new year at our country’s airports. We will conduct an inquiry to find out who is liable and how we can avoid this from happening again.”

What a way to welcome the new year at our country's airports. We will conduct an inquiry to find out who is liable and how we can avoid this from happening again.#NAIA #AirTrafficControl #Airport #MIAA pic.twitter.com/M5HthZo0Y6

— GRACE POE (@SenGracePOE) January 2, 2023

Local outlet News5 quoted JV Ejercito, another senator, as saying, “An investigation should be done to make sure that this unfortunate incident doesn’t happen again. It’s either sabotage or plain incompetence. What is baffling is that the Air Traffic Management System should have a backup. Having a totally non-functioning radar system is not only dangerous for air travel but is a concern of national security.” With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.