EDITORIAL - No more NAIA nightmare
The year started with an embarrassing paralysis at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, following a massive power outage at the height of the holiday air traffic. Hundreds of flights at the NAIA affecting thousands of passengers were delayed, canceled or diverted, with flights in other airports affected by the disruption. It took a few days before NAIA operations were fully restored to normal. By that time, an estimated 78,000 passengers had been affected by the flight disruptions.
The reason for the outage compounded the embarrassment: the failure to properly maintain and replace electrical equipment. The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines initially traced the outage to the malfunctioning of one of the blowers in the uninterruptible power supply or UPS system, but this was later found to be inaccurate.
Two UPS units power the Communication, Navigation and Surveillance / Air Traffic Management at the country’s premier airport. A probe showed the lack of a functioning automatic voltage regulator and a functioning redundancy to back up the system in case of failure. A short circuit had occurred on a power transfer switch, which the probe deemed could have been caused by overheating due to poor maintenance.
Two more outages hit the NAIA this year, although nothing as serious as the New Year’s Day nightmare. CAAP and other officials have said the malfunctioning parts have been replaced and the electrical system checked, with regular inspection and maintenance now being conducted.
With air travel again at its peak in this holiday season, and more passengers expected amid the full lifting of COVID restrictions worldwide, airport authorities must ensure that the New Year’s Day disaster is not repeated. Multiple investigations were carried out and experts called in to establish exactly what happened to ensure that the fiasco is not repeated. The NAIA suffers enough from bad reviews from travelers. After that disaster at the start of the year, lessons should have been learned. Another travel nightmare at the NAIA this holiday season would be inexcusable.
