Manchester Airport has resumed normal operations after a power cut caused major disruptions, grounding flights and diverting arrivals. Passengers face ongoing delays as airlines work to reschedule. Check flight status and allow extra travel time.

Manchester Airport has resumed normal operations following a major power cut that caused widespread disruption over the weekend. Passengers are being advised to check the status of their flights as airlines work to rearrange schedules affected by the outage.

Power Cut Causes Widespread Disruption

The power cut, which occurred early Sunday morning, led to the grounding of outbound flights and the diversion of scheduled arrivals to other UK airports. By lunchtime, 66 outbound flights (25% of all departures) and 50 inbound flights (18% of all arrivals) had been cancelled, according to aviation analytics company Cirium.

Airport officials confirmed that all systems were “running as normal” by 19:30 BST on Sunday. However, they warned that the airport would be “slightly busier than usual” on Monday as passengers affected by cancellations continued to travel. They advised passengers to arrive two hours before short-haul flights and three hours before long-haul flights.

Impact on Passengers

Passengers caught in the disruption described the scene at the airport as chaotic, with long queues and baggage carousels piled high with unclaimed luggage. Some passengers reported that their baggage was not loaded onto their planes.

Kelvin Knaver from St Helens, who was scheduled to fly to Amsterdam with EasyJet, told BBC North West Tonight, “It has been a mess. There’s such a backlog that it’s going to take forever to clear.”

Airlines and Flight Diversions

EasyJet experienced the highest number of cancellations. The airline stated that the delays were beyond its control and that it was doing everything possible to minimize the impact on passengers.

Several international flights were also affected. A Singapore Airlines flight from Houston was diverted to London Heathrow, and another from Singapore had to land at London Gatwick. An Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi was diverted to Birmingham Airport.

Industry Reactions

Travel expert Simon Calder warned that Sunday’s events could have a “serious” impact on passenger confidence in air travel. Speaking to BBC 5Live, Calder said, “There will be some people who take one look at this, look at the stress and the anxiety and the upset, and the not knowing what’s going on, and say ‘well I’m not going to do that’.”

He suggested that the competitive nature of the aviation industry means Manchester Airport could risk losing passengers to alternative airports. “If people are chatting in the pub and say ‘well I used Liverpool John Lennon Airport and it was fine, nice and uncrowded, seems to work OK’, then you might get a cohort of people actually moving away from Manchester Airport to another airport,” Calder explained.

Response from Manchester Airport

Chris Woodroofe, the managing director of Manchester Airport, apologized for the disruption and assured that staff were working hard to manage the backlog and prevent further delays. “We are making sure the impact does not carry on into the coming days,” he said.

The power cut was attributed to a fault with a cable, which sent a surge of power across the airport’s electrical network.

Moving Forward

While Manchester Airport is now operating normally, the aftermath of the power cut serves as a reminder of the vulnerabilities in airport infrastructure and the significant impact such incidents can have on travelers and the aviation industry. As airlines and airport staff continue to manage the backlog, passengers are advised to stay informed about their flight status and allow extra time for travel.