ILOILO CITY – Business and tourism officials have expressed concern over the readiness of the Iloilo airport to cater to international flights after a blackout crippled the airport’s operations on Tuesday.
Maria Lea Victoria Lara, executive director of the Iloilo Business Club, said she was among hundreds of passengers who were stranded for hours in the airport after its uninterrupted power supply (UPS) unit caught fire triggering the blackout.
The UPS serves as a protection from power surges and fluctuations in electric supply from Iloilo’s power distributors.
“Many waited for hours outside the terminal in the darkness,” Lara said in a telephone interview.
At least 10 incoming and outgoing flights were canceled because even the tarmac’s lights went out during the outage.
Flights resumed early Wednesday after technicians restored the power supply by bypassing the UPS.
Airport manager Efren Nagrama said the device could have caught fire after it overheated due to heavy load and extremely high temperatures.
He apologized to passengers who were inconvenienced by the outage but stressed that it was a rare technical malfunction.
But Lara said the passengers suffered inconvenience because there was lack of information when the flights would be restored. Passengers were also not attended to or even offered water and food.
“How can we bring in international flights if the airport does not have a power supply backup and prepared contingency measures to deal with emergency situations?” Lara said.
Lara said contingency measures and mechanisms not just by the airport but also by other government agencies and units should be in place to handle unforeseen and emergency situations.
Helen Catalbas, tourism regional director, said the incident was “unfortunate” and one that should be avoided through improved facilities and adequate preparations.
“An airport offers the first and last impressions about a place and it would be unfortunate that an enjoyable and pleasant stay in Iloilo would be ruined at the last minute due to airport problems,” she said.
She also said the outage was a rare case of facilities malfunctioning at the airport and which was promptly addressed.
The Iloilo City government, along with business and tourism organization and agencies, is working to bring in direct international flights to Iloilo within the year. It is envisioned to be another international hub in Western Visayas next to Kalibo International Airport in Aklan.
The airport in Cabatuan town in Iloilo, which opened in June 2007 and cost P8.76 billion to build, is among the most modern in the country capable of accommodating international flights.
The Iloilo airport caters to 25 incoming and 25 outgoing flights daily and is the fourth busiest in the country.