All flights from Terminals 1 and 2 at Manchester Airport have been cancelled following a power outage that brought the major UK airport to a standstill.
In a statement, the airport said: “All flights from Terminals 1 and 2 are being cancelled until further notice and passengers due to travel from those terminals are advised not to come to the airport and to stay in touch with their airlines.”
Manchester Airport added that flights from Terminal 3 were still operating. They said: “Passengers due to fly from Terminal 3 should come to the airport as normal unless advised otherwise by their airline but could be affected by delays.”
Following the incident, airlines which were due to fly out of or into Manchester Airport issued apologies to passengers affected. In a statement, easyJet said: “Although outside of our control, we would like to apologise for any inconvenience experienced as a result. We are doing all we can and working closely with the airport team to minimise the disruption.”
A spokesperson for Virgin Atlantic added that “baggage systems” at Manchester Airport were “not operational”. They added: “Our teams are working closely with the airport authorities and are keeping our customers up to date with the latest information.
Virgin Atlantic flights are currently departing but may be subject to minor delays.”
Several flights have been diverted because of the chaos including one Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport which had to land in Birmingham rather than Manchester.
Speaking to LBC about the incident, travel expert Simon Calder warned that some people could be stuck abroad because of the outage. He said: “On top of the tens of thousands of people who will be affected by hundreds of cancellations you’ve got an equal and opposite number of people waiting to fly back who are also going to be stranded.”
The incident has triggered outrage on social media. One person wrote: “Utter disgrace, the airport should have backup systems/generators for this sort of scenario. Expect the unexpected. In general, this airport is a shambles and needs major investment. I don’t see how a power cut causes a toilet blockage across T1. Management should resign.”
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