Flying out of the Philippines’ main international airport used to mean packing a whole lot of extra patience alongside your passport. But with a private consortium now helming the controls, passengers are starting to see hints of smoother skies ahead, even as pockets of turbulence remain.

Thousands of exhausted passengers on Monday remained stranded outside the ageing Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila after a New Year power outage caused hundreds of flight cancellations.