Power outage snarls airport

A three-hour power outage at the Saipan International Airport delayed two flights bound for Japan and Korea at dawn yesterday.

Commonwealth Ports Authority officials said the power went off at 3:40am and came back over three hours later at 7:10am. Airport staff initially reported that electricity was restored at around 6:45am.

The outage, compounded by the lack of a generator at the airport, bogged down the computerized system at the Arrivals and Departure areas and kept passengers waiting for hours.

Acting CPA executive director Lee Cabrera said that fuses at the Kiya sub-station near the airport area blew up and the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. had to repair them first.

Terrible experience

Asiana Airlines’s general manager for Regional Sales Office in Saipan Kwang Joong Kim said they were almost finished with the boarding procedures when the electricity went off. He said this caused discomfort among the passengers.

Kim said Asiana’s Flight 608 bound for Pusan, South Korea, was scheduled to fly at 4am but because of the power outage, the plane departed at exactly 7:10am.

“It was really a very terrible experience. It was a very difficult time for us, especially the passengers,” he said.

Kim recalled that 86 passengers got stuck in the aircraft and that most stood for hours at the departure lounge without air conditioning system.

Northwest Airlines’ 5:30am flight to Japan was also affected and left about 7am.

The other Northwest aircraft bound for Japan, Flight 99, departed on time at 8:45am for Narita Airport.

Northwest staff initially reported that Flight 99’s 100 passengers boarded on time.

‘Sorry’

Cabrera expressed regret over the discomfort that stranded passengers experienced. He said CPA is very sorry about the incident and is asking for the public’s understanding.

“We are open to any complaints. This is the challenge that we all faced,” Cabrera said.

He said CPA sympathizes with CUC and appreciate what it is doing to help keep the power system going at the airport.

Cabrera said CUC has assured CPA there will be no more power interruptions at the airport in the future “unless it is uncontrollable.”

“We really appreciate what CUC is doing to help us get online,” he said.

The two backup generators at the airport went down several months ago. Repair works commenced early last month.

He said they have already ordered several spare parts to fully restore the generators.

Expected completion of the repair work on the two backup generators will be by the end of November or the first week of December. [I][B](Nazario Rodriguez, Jr.)
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