- Operations at the Air Traffic Management Center at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport are back to normal as of 5:50pm of January 1 after a power outage
- The glitch resulted in loss of communication, radio, radar, and internet, leading to widespread flight disruptions to and from Manila and affecting other airports
- Equipment restoration is still ongoing
The Air Traffic Management Center (ATMC) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) resumed normal operations late afternoon of January 1 after a power outage that caused widespread flight disruptions to and from Manila.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista in a statement said operations returned to normal at 5:50 pm while equipment restoration is still ongoing.
Limited capacity was restored at 4pm.
In an online press conference, Bautista said the ATMC, which controls and oversees all inbound and outbound flights and overflights within the Philippine airspace, was hit by a power outage at 9:49am, resulting in loss of communication, radio, radar, and internet.
The disruption affected flights in other airports.
The problem was caused primarily by an outage in power supply and the “degraded uninterrupted power supply which had no link to the commercial power and had to be connected to the latter manually. The secondary problem was the power surge due to the power outage which affected the equipment,” Bautista explained.
The Department of Transportation and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines are continuing to coordinate with airlines as well as the other airport and operators such as Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority, Clark International Airport, and Davao International Airport to address the situation, he added.
He said the DOTr has liaised with the airline partners for the free provision of food, refreshments, transportation, lodging, and accommodation for passengers on cancelled flights.
Bautista said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered authorities to extend assistance to affected passengers.
