By DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Hundreds of Manila-bound passengers were stranded at the Bacolod-Silay Airport after the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) failed on New Year’s Day, Sunday.
Roel Aranzado, airport manager for the Bacolod-Silay Airport, said three outbound and two inbound flights were affected.
A total of 566 outbound passengers of AirAsia flight Z2 604; Philippine Airlines flight PR 2132; and Cebu Pacific flight 5J 486 were affected.
In addition, two Bacolod-bound Cebu Pacific flights, 5J 483 and 5J 477, with a total of 400 passengers, were also impacted by the NAIA ATC glitch.
According to Aranzado, all passenger flight schedules were processed and rebooked, and the airline companies provided food and snacks to the stranded passengers.
The airport security and the Aviation Security Group of the Philippine National Police assisted in implementing crowd control.
On Sunday, a total of 282 flights were either delayed, canceled, or diverted in Manila, affecting at least 56,000 passengers.
Department of Transportation (DOTr) secretary Jaime Bautista issued an apology and explained that the ATC breakdown was due to a power outage.
Bautista also said the existing facility is already outdated and an upgrade to NAIA’s ATC system is urgently needed.
Flights were partially restored by Sunday afternoon./PN
