Naia undergoes power maintenance

IT WASN’T LIKE THIS BEFORE Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, presiding over the public services subcommittee on Tuesday, shows an image from his mobile phone to emphasize the poor condition of the country’s gateway. —Senate PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — Terminal 3 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) is currently undergoing power maintenance activities as part of an electrical systems upgrade of the facility since last year, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said.

According to the agency, the power maintenance at the country’s gateway, which began on Monday and will last until May 28, involves the replacement of deteriorated medium voltage switchgear components across eight different electrical substations at the terminal.

READ: Miaa announces Naia power shutdown due to maintenance

The power shutdowns will be by sector and will affect air conditioning or lighting in the open and multilevel parking, the north concourse, departure area, arrival bay, boarding gates, bus gates, headhouses, concession areas, hallways, lobbies and other several offices, as well as the operation of several elevators, escalators and walkalators.

Most of the power interruptions will occur at midnight or early in the morning.

READ: ‘Sweaty’ at Naia: Cooling system under repair

There was a 30-minute power outage at Terminal 3 on Tuesday morning, but the MIAA said this was not part of the scheduled power maintenance, as it was caused by a power fluctuation that affected the Pasay City barangay where the terminal is located.

The terminal experienced massive power outages at least four times from 2022 to 2023, including the Jan. 1, 2023, shutdown.

Lightning red alert

Earlier on Monday, nine Manila-bound flights were diverted to Clark International Airport after flight and ground operations at Naia were halted due to a lightning red alert that lasted nearly two hours.

The MIAA said the diverted flights were AirAsia Philippines flights Z2-224 and Z2-328 from Caticlan, Aklan, and Tacloban, Leyte; AirSwift flights T6-143 and T6-149 from El Nido, Palawan; Philippine Airlines Flight PR-101 from Honolulu, Hawaii; PAL Express Flight 2P-2406 from Caticlan; Cebu Pacific flights 5J-658 from Tacloban and 5J-5039 from Nagoya, Japan; and Singapore Airlines Flight SQ-916 from Singapore.

All flights were redirected to Naia at around 10 p.m.

The MIAA’s airport ground operations and safety division imposed the lightning red alert at 4:12 p.m. amid a thunderstorm that affected Metro Manila and nearby provinces. The red alert was lifted at around 6:10 p.m.