- As of 4 p.m. local time on New Year’s Day, 282 flights had been cancelled.
- The problem originated with the air traffic management system.
- All airlines were prohibited from arriving into Manila on Sunday afternoon.
On January 1st, a major power outage at the Philippines’ busiest airport temporarily interfered with air traffic control, causing roughly 300 flights to be cancelled and stranding tens of thousands of passengers in the Southeast Asian hub.
The primary entry point into the Philippines is Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL), which serves Manila and the surrounding area.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), which operates the airport, said in a statement that technical problems were discovered for the first time on Sunday morning.
As of 4 p.m. local time on New Year’s Day, 282 flights had been either cancelled, delayed, or diverted to other regional airports, affecting almost 56,000 people. According to Reuters, it was unclear how many overflights were impacted.
The central air traffic control system at the airport had had a serious power loss, according to Philippine Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, who apologised for the inconveniences brought on to travellers during a press conference on the evening of Sunday, January 1. He continued that even though there was a backup power supply, it was insufficient.
The problem originated with the air traffic management system, according to Bautista. “There is a tremendous contrast if you compare (our airport) with Singapore’s, for one — they are at least 10 years ahead of us,” he remarked.
In order to provide food, drinks, transportation, and lodging “without of charge to all affected travellers,” Bautista’s transportation department also worked with the affected airlines.
A Qantas flight with a destination of Manila that took off from Sydney just before 1 p.m. local time on January 1 was one of the flights impacted by the airspace disruption. Flight QF19 was therefore forced to turn around mid-flight and return to Australia after three hours of its eight-hour journey.
According to a statement from Qantas, “all airlines were prohibited from arriving into Manila on Sunday afternoon after local authorities blocked the local airspace.” This meant that our Sydney-bound flight had to make a U-turn.
According to a CAAP report, operations had partially restarted as of 5:50 p.m. local time, and the airport had once more started to accept incoming flights. According to a Department of Transport announcement posted on Facebook, airport operations have resumed even though equipment restoration is still proceeding.
Passengers camped out in front of airline ticket offices to demand clarity and early flights out, lamenting their lack of knowledge of what to do.
Many people, including politicians, have criticised the situation online and questioned how and why the power outage had occurred in the first place.
In an official tweet on Monday, Filipino Senator Grace Poe observed, “What a way to celebrate the new year at our country’s airports.” “We will investigate to see who is at fault and how we can prevent this from happening again.”
The Covid-19 pandemic severely affected global air travel, but passenger volume has been gradually recovering. According to industry experts, the industry will return to pre-pandemic levels by 2025.
Huge crowds were visible in online images and videos taken at NAIA. At numerous check-in counters, long lines could be spotted. Additionally, a large number of travellers were seen huddled around flight arrival screens watching updates while carrying their bags.
A Filipino businessman named Manny V. Pangilinan revealed on Twitter that he had been returning from Tokyo to Manila when the jet was forced to land at Haneda airport due to “radar and navigation services at NAIA being down.”
He remarked, “Six hours of pointless flying.” “Travelers experience terrible inconvenience, and tourism and business suffer terrible losses.” At 11 p.m. local time, his aircraft finally touched down in Manila, according to Pangilinan.
One of the thousands of people impacted by the New Year’s flight delays was student Xavier Fernandez. He called United Airlines and other airlines for hours to try to reschedule his flight to San Francisco for a later time. He told that the experience had been “an absolute disaster” and that he had spent more than 10 hours in the airport.
Fernandez added that some travellers who had gotten on their planes on Sunday morning before the power problems were disclosed finally forced to get off after spending many hours on board waiting.
The significant flight delays occur during a popular time of year for travel in the Philippines, when many visitors and residents of other countries fly in to celebrate Christmas and New Year, two of the most significant holidays celebrated there.
For Christmas and the New Year, Fernandez had travelled to Manila to spend time with his family.
He described the incident as “literally the worst way to start the year.”
Many Filipinos working abroad were also forced to miss their flights to places like Singapore and Hong Kong due to the New Year airport crisis.
Domestic worker Nora Dela Cruz told that since she didn’t arrive back in Hong Kong on Sunday, her position was “now in uncertainty.” She claimed that as a result of the delays, she and other women employed in the sector were “offloaded.”
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