DEPARTMENT of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Jaime J. Bautista immediately ordered a “parallel investigation” after a power outage struck Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (T3), on Saturday, September 17, 2022.

Bautista immediately proceeded to NAIA T3 and personally inspected the incident together with NAIA officials.

Initial reports to Bautista indicated that the power trip-off triggers the airport generator to activate – however, computer systems of the airlines and immigration slow down to the technical requirements of their system and applications.

The airport coordinated with Meralco personnel and inspected a portion of NAIA T3, but airport engineers are still tracing some areas as to the “low voltage” disabling some computers at the immigration counters.

The DOTr chief apologized to the affected passengers and assured the public that authorities were on site monitoring the situation.

A report said technical people from airport engineering and operations are on site to normalize the power.

In a separate statement, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) apologized to NAIA Terminal 3 passengers and other airport stakeholders for the inconvenience brought about by a power interruption Friday night until early Saturday morning.

The power outage disrupted airport operations as the airlines had to resort to manual check-in and loading of baggage while processing passengers at immigration took longer than usual.

In a joint probe, the MIAA management and Meralco traced the problem to the Terminal 3 power substation.

As of 6:00 a.m. (Sept. 17, 2022), the electric power in all areas of the NAIA T3 has been “restored”.

Sixteen international and 15 domestic flights were affected by the incident.

Bautista and MIAA General Manager Cesar Chiong assured that there would be immediate action to prevent the recurrence of the incident.

The following flights were affected due to power interruption:

Domestic Flights

Departure

5J 951 Manila-Davao

5J 473 Manila-Bacolod

5J 381 Manila-Cagayan

5J 635 Manila-Puerto Princesa

5J 961 Manila-Davao

5J 991 Manila-General Santos

5J 451 Manila-Iloilo

5J 551 Manila-Cebu

5J 651 Manila-Tacloban

5J 357 Manila-Roxas

5J 481 Manila-Bacolod

5J 851 Manila-Zamboanga

Arrival

5J 2506 Cebu-Manila

5J 3966 Davao-Manila

TK 265 Cebu-Manila

International Flights

Departure

EK 335 Manila-Dubai

QR 929 Manila-Doha

Z2 942 Manila-Kuala Lumpur

TK 265 Manila-Istanbul

5J 929 Manila-Bangkok

5J 813 Manila-Singapore

SQ 915 Manila-Singapore

EK 337 Manila-Dubai

5J 5038 Manila-Nagoya

Arrival

5J 827 Osaka-Manila

Z2 232 Denpasar-Manila

5J 502 Kuala Lumpur-Manila

5J 804 Singapore-Manila

SQ 918 Singapore-Manila

EK 336 Dubai-Manila

In another statement, Carmina Romero, spokesperson of Cebu Pacific (CEB), advised its passengers that electricity has been restored at the said airport and that operations are “normalizing”.

“As we recover from the power outage and as the situation begins to normalize, please expect delays in some of our flights as we manage the situation… CEB will provide an update as soon as more information becomes available,” said Romero.