Funviralpark At least 300 flights were canceled, delayed or diverted on Sunday as the Philippines closed its airspace to commercial flights after a power outage hampered air traffic operations.
The mistake disastrously affected more than 65,000 travelers on New Year’s Day, and Transportation Secretary Jaime J Bautista apologized for the inconvenience.
He said authorities continue to work to assist all affected passengers.
Bautista said the problems started the morning when the Air Traffic Control Center, which oversees all flights in Philippine airspace, lost communications, radio, radar and internet due to a power outage.
In the late afternoon, the air traffic system was restored and flights resumed at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Officials urged airlines to load more flights and upgrade to wider-body planes to accommodate more passengers, with a full recovery expected after 72 hours. ing.
Some travelers were outraged, among them tycoon Manny Pangilinan, chairman of telecommunications company PLDT, who said he was on his way from Tokyo to Manila when the blackout occurred.
“I hear that NAIA’s radar and navigation facilities are down. It is inconvenient for travelers and the loss to tourism and business is appalling,” he tweeted.
The woman, who was due to fly to Singapore, said she sat on the plane’s tarmac for several hours before she was eventually removed from the plane and offered a hotel room.
“I was told it was a complete failure of radio communication with air traffic control,” she told AFP.
Manila passenger Daryl Delgado said he managed to rebook his flight for a later date after a “frustrating” experience.
Earlier in the day, the country’s Civil Aviation Authority said the suspension of flights into Philippine airspace was to ensure passenger safety.
“Passenger safety is the priority of the authorities and it is better to ground the aircraft to avoid mid-air accidents,” a local report said in a recommendation sent to the media.
The Manila International Airport Authority, which is in charge of operating the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminal, said its crisis management and emergency response teams were addressing the issue on the ground.
flight tracking service flightradar24 On Sunday afternoon, he tweeted a map of the airspace showing the impact of the flight suspension.
In addition to the flight from Japan carrying Pangilinan, about 280 flights from Ninoy Aquino International Airport had been canceled, delayed or diverted to other regional airports as of 4 p.m. local time, according to Bloomberg news.
Services returned to normal around 5:50 p.m., when equipment restoration was still underway, according to the Ministry of Transport.
Not only has the flight been suspended, but passengers on the United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Singapore said it was diverted to Honolulu. Passenger John Villanueva said the Scoot flight from Narita to Singapore was forced to turn around.
A Qantas flight from Sydney, Australia, was “forced to turn back mid-flight” and eight flights to Manila, Cebu, and other destinations in the Philippines were pulled into Hong Kong airport as of 6pm local time. route had been changed. Hong Kong airport authorities said by phone.
There were scenes of chaos at check-in counters across the country as thousands of people tried to rebook tickets or find out when their flights would take off.
Low-cost carriers Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines said they were offering free rebooking or the option to convert tickets to vouchers for Fly on Sunday.
Updated: Jan 1, 2023, 5:51 PM
