At least 40 flights were cancelled at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 due to a long power outage that was solved by Meralco and airport authorities Monday morning.

A few flights' departure was delayed, including an Air Asia flight to Kansai

Terminal 3 lost power at 1:05 am Monday but generators kicked to allow the airport to run essential services.

Ninoy Aquino International Airport general manager Cesar Chiong said operations resumed at 8:46 am.

''We apologize to the public for the inconvenience,'' said Chiong.

A second power outage occurred around 4 pm but Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said that electricity was restored quickly.

Bautista said the DOTr will seek the help of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency to investigate the cause of the power outage.

Meralco engineer Noel Espiritu said the power outage was caused by either faulty wiring or short circuit, which resulted to a high amount of power current and fault indicator. He added Meralco is still looking for the cause of the power outage.

He added that the Manila International Airport Authority will conduct a ''full electrical audit'' for all terminals to avoid future power interruptions and passenger inconvenience. This will take three months, said Bautista. DMS