NAIA Terminal 3 cooling towers bog down

Two cooling towers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA 3) bogged down on Saturday night, causing inconvenience to passengers.

"Meron pong dalawang cooling tower na nag-trip. Ibig sabihin, naka-detect ng mataas na power load ang ating kuryente kung kaya't nag-trip ito," Atty. Cris Bendijo, spokesperson of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said Saturday in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.

(There were two cooling towers that tripped. That means a high power load was detected, causing the tripping.)

Bendijo said the other cooling towers were working fine.

"Ongoing 'yung troubleshooting," he said.

"Definitely nakaramdam tayo ng medyo hindi katanggap-tanggap na temperatura dahil dalawa lang ang cooling towers na gumagana," Bendijo said.

(Definitely, we experienced hot temperature because only two cooling towers were working.)

Passengers were seen using fans and handheld mini battery-powered fans to cope with the heat, according to a report by Carlo Mateo on Super Radyo dzBB.

In a statement, the MIAA said it monitored "a technical issue that led to the temporary shutdown of two of its cooling towers in NAIA Terminal 3."

"This technical challenge regrettably resulted to warmer temperatures inside the terminal," it added.

The MIAA said they put up evaporative fans in critical areas to provide relief to passengers as troubleshooting is ongoing.

"MIAA's engineering team is actively addressing the situation to restore full functionality of all cooling towers as swiftly as possible," it said.

"In the meantime, we seek for the understanding of our passengers and stakeholders as we work through this challenge. We apologize for any inconvenience that the situation is causing to everyone. Rest assured that we are doing all we can to bring back the air conditioning system to its full functionality," the MIAA said.

In a separate interview on Super Radyo dzBB, MIAA general manager Eric Ines said they are doing what they can to address the issue.

"May isa pang cooling tower na pinapaandar para umandar na 'yung tatlong chiller nang buo. Tatlo kasi 'yung chiller doon... 6 na cooling tower 'yun, kanina nagkaroon ng kauntring tripping," Ines said.

(There is another cooling tower that is being tapped so three chillers can work. There are three chillers there. There are six cooling towers, and there was a bit of tripping earlier.)

"Bumaba 'yung cooling ng buong terminal. As of kaninang mga bandang past 8PM, ang average naman na lumalabas na temperatura sa lahat ay umaabot ng 25-26 degrees Celsius, hindi gaanong malamig at mainit. Pero sa init ng panahon, hindi pa kuntento 'yan," he added.

(The cooling [capacity] of the whole terminal went down. As of around past 8PM, the average temperature reached 25 to 26 degrees Celsius. It is not that cold nor too hot. But with the hot weather, it is not ideal.)

"Anytime siguro, mabubuo na 'yung 6 cooling tower natin para umandar 'yung 3 chiller. Pero matagal nang kulang ('yung chiller) pero aabutin tayo ng ilang buwan. Kaya lang, na-restrict akong mag-approve niyan dahil sa concession agreement natin," Ines said.

(Anytime maybe, the six cooling towers will workd so the three chillers will be operational. However, the chillers are not enough, and procurement may take a few months. I was restricted though to approve such because of our concession agreement.) —KG, GMA Integrated News