The Manila Domestic Airport terminal suffered a power outage yesterday, the second in four days, with thousands of peak-season passengers being checked in manually under dank and dark conditions.

Power outage hits Cebu Pacific domestic terminal again
Manila Domestic Passenger Terminal | photo by my soul insurance2004 (Flickr)

Lights came back towards noon but manual check-in continued under sweltering heat both from lack of air-conditioning and the thousands of passengers who packed the cramped terminal.

“The Manila International Airport Authority is doing its best to fix the problem. We can only hope that the outages today and last Saturday would be the last,” said Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and product.

The outage aside, Cebu Pacific, she said, has offered to help MIAA expand the present terminal which is regularly overwhelmed by the sheer number of people now flying.

“Cebu Pacific will spend its own money to improve the terminal and had given up its cargo space to give room to arriving and departing passengers. The project should be done before the middle of the year and should make flying a more pleasant experience,” she said.

“Hopefully,” she added, “both the outage and cramped conditions at the terminal, among others, will be addressed soonest for the convenience of the public.”