More than 80 flights were canceled and at least 14,000 passengers stranded at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) following a major power outage April 2-3.
The five-hour power outage mainly affected the airport’s domestic Terminal 3. However, full operation of the terminal and all its support functions was not completed until around noon on April 3.
Low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific said in a statement that it had cancelled at least 80 flights. Several other major carriers—including PAL Express, Tigerair Philippines, ANA, Cathay Pacific, Delta Air Lines, KLM, and Emirates Airline—all use Terminal 3.
An NAIA spokesperson said on local radio that at least 31 flights were delayed and 66 had been canceled due to the outage, but management authority Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) has not given a full list of disrupted flights.
MIAA said the initial outage was caused by a problem at local substation belonging to local power authority, Meralco, and that it was working on measures to insulate its operational side from external factors such as the substation trip.
“Measures are now being worked out to make sure that a power outage does not occur again in the future,” it said in a statement.