Manchester Airport has issued an update to passengers after a power outage caused chaos yesterday (Sunday 23 June).
In an updated statement, the airport said that “all systems are operating normally,” noting that the airport was “slightly busier” than usual and that the status of certain flights could be checked online.
Holidaymakers are being advised to contact the airlines if their luggage did not make it onto the flight. Many pieces of luggage were loaded onto the flights last night and today and returned to their owners.
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This happened after several flights from Terminal 1 and 2 were cancelled for several hours due to a power outage in the early hours of the morning.
According to flight data analyst Cirium, 66 departures from Manchester Airport were cancelled by 1pm on Sunday, as were 50 return flights. This led to huge queues at the airport and a backlog of luggage as baggage systems failed.
In an update released this afternoon, a Manchester Airport spokesperson said: “Operations at Manchester Airport have been running smoothly today. All systems are operating normally and there have been no further issues following yesterday’s power outage.”
“As always, passengers departing from Manchester should check the status of their flight online before travelling and follow their airline’s instructions on when to arrive at the airport – usually two hours before a short-haul flight and three hours before a long-haul flight.”
“The airport is a little busier than usual as airlines rebook passengers affected by the disruption onto new flights. This is likely to continue in the coming days. We have additional staff on site to assist our passengers.
“Passengers whose bags did not make it onto the flight yesterday are advised to stay in contact with their airlines. We are working with the airlines, their ground handling staff and other partners to deliver these bags to passengers as quickly as possible. Much of this was put onto the flight yesterday evening and today and has already been returned to its owners.
“We would like to thank the passengers once again for their patience. We would also like to thank our employees and our partners around the airport for their tireless efforts.”
Manchester Airport chief executive Chris Woodroofe apologised for the disruption, saying there had been a “major power spike” in the airport’s power network due to an “outage”. He said: “It’s a very difficult situation, I’m incredibly sorry.”
Due to the power outage, some flights took off without luggage as the baggage system was not working. Jet2 assured passengers this morning that they will “do everything they can” to get luggage to their destination “as quickly as possible”.
In a statement on its website, the airline said: “Due to the outage, some flights departed with less or no baggage as we were unable to load baggage onto our aircraft as the airport baggage system was not working during the outage. Please note that our UK-based ground operations team will be working hard to get your baggage to you as quickly as possible. As you can imagine, this may take some time. We will endeavour to be in touch before the end of the day on Monday 24 June 2024.”
“We understand how frustrating this situation must be and although the situation was beyond our control, we will do everything we can to get all baggage to its final destination as quickly as possible.”
Passengers were informed that they would be updated via SMS and email. The airline added: “We apologize again for any inconvenience this may cause.”