Thousands of travelers were stranded at airports in the Philippines on Sunday after a “loss of communication” in the main one, Manila, caused hundreds of flights to be cancelled, delayed or diverted.
More than 280 scheduled flights to and from Manila have been affected, affecting 56,000 passengers, according to airport authorities.
The air traffic management system was partially restored around 9 a.m. (Paris time) and planes were starting to take off and land in Manila again, they added.
No details on the source of the problem.
In the morning, “a technical problem” had been detected in the domestic and international traffic management center at the Manila airport.
This issue arose when many travelers returned to the capital after the Christmas and New Year holidays, followed by chaotic scenes at the gates where thousands of people were trying to find out when their flight could take off or book a new seat. Others who had boarded before the announcement of the breakdown waited for hours before having to disembark.
Airport officials did not give details about the source of the problem, but the low-cost airline Cebu Pacific explained in a notice to its customers that it was related to “a power outage and loss of communication.”
passenger protests
Many passengers protested the malfunction and the lack of information on the spot. A woman who was leaving for Singapore said she sat on the plane’s tarmac for several hours before being disembarked and offered a hotel room.
“They told us there was a total failure in radio communications at air traffic control,” he said.
Filipino tycoon Manny Pangilinan tweeted that his plane from Tokyo to Manila was diverted in flight at Tokyo-Haneda airport due to a failure “in radar and navigation facilities.”
“Six hours of flight for nothing more than inconvenience to travelers and loss to tourism and business is horrendous,” he tweeted.
In Manila, a passenger, Daryll Delgado, said she was able to rebook for later after an “infuriating” experience. In Davao (South), according to an AFP journalist, travelers were advised “not to go to the airport”, but many discovered that their flights were canceled when they were already checking-in.
Source: BFM TV
