Power outage disrupts all flights from two terminals at Manchester Airport – BBC News

All flights from Manchester Airport’s two main terminals have been cancelled after a “significant power outage” caused widespread disruption.

Passengers travelling through Terminals 1 and 2 have been asked not to enter the terminals due to a power outage in the early hours of the morning, impacting baggage and security systems.

An airport spokesman said power had been restored but all flights from those terminals had been cancelled “until further notice.”

More than 100 flights were scheduled to depart from Britain’s largest airport outside London. Long queues had formed as many incoming flights were diverted.

Passengers flying through Terminal 3 should arrive at the airport as usual, but there may be delays after “critical systems” were disrupted, an airport spokesman said.

The airport told the BBC that incoming flights were being diverted because “planes cannot take off” due to limited space.

This makes it difficult to accept aircraft sent elsewhere, the spokesman added.

Among those affected was a flight from Houston, Texas, which had to continue on to London Heathrow, while another from Singapore had to land at London Gatwick.

When the main system failed, the airport’s emergency power supply was switched on, but the situation was further complicated by several power outages.

Airlines said that due to problems with baggage handling, passengers could only board with hand luggage.

Jet2 said in a statement that due to the outage, handlers were unable to load baggage onto the aircraft.

Meanwhile, an Easyjet spokesperson said that due to problems with the baggage system, passengers could only board their flight with hand luggage.

The disruption occurred at the start of the summer holiday season at Britain’s third-busiest airport, which apologised to passengers.

Airport sources said the power outage had “literally brought everything to a standstill.”

Bobbi Hadgraft, who is travelling to England for the 2024 European Championships, told BBC Radio Manchester that she arrived at the airport at around 4am CET and found “huge queues” outside Terminal 1.

“We were afraid of missing our flight,” she said, adding that the power outage had also damaged display boards and scanners, requiring staff to guide passengers through the grounds.

Olwyn Hocking said one of the staff looked like he was trying to hide as “hundreds and hundreds of people streamed into the airport and had no idea there was a problem.”

She said it was “chaos.”

Balázs Fazekas, who was planning to fly to Montenegro for a week-long trip with his wife and eight-month-old baby, arrived at 02:00 (CEST) and, after eight hours in line, learned that the flight had been cancelled.

“There are bigger problems in life than this,” he said, but added that the lack of communication from the airport had been “quite frustrating.”

Another passenger, Phillip Banfield, said his plane took off while he was stuck after passport control.

He said he was surrounded by a “huge number of stranded passengers wondering how to continue their journey”.

It was “virtually impossible” to get through check-in and security, which was only possible with hand luggage, he added.

Many passengers try to find out about their rights in the event of a flight cancellation or delay.

Social media was full of complaints about long queues at check-in counters and passport control, as well as a lack of communication from staff amid the “chaos.”

Pictures and video footage showed long lines of people, some of them waiting in almost total darkness.

The airport said power went out at about 1:30 a.m. but has since been restored, but it will take some time for systems to be operational again.

Additional reporting by Aleks Phillips and Mary Litchfield