Disruption and long queues persisted at Manchester Airport following a significant power outage that led to the grounding of all flights from two terminals. The airport released a statement on Monday morning, announcing that operations had resumed and urging passengers to “prepare to travel as usual”. However, the effects of the power cut were still causing major inconveniences for thousands of travelers early on Monday. Some were waiting for alternative flights, while others who managed to take off discovered that their luggage had not been loaded onto the plane.
Passengers reported extensive queues for the bag drop-off process, and a substantial number of flights remained delayed. Sian Hopwood, a resident of Lancashire, was attempting to travel to Kefalonia, Greece, on Sunday, but her flight was cancelled. She made another attempt on Monday, stating, “Yesterday demonstrated how outdated this airport can be.” Hopwood shared her experience with Sky News, saying, “We were rescheduled for a 6am flight from Manchester, so we woke up at 2:30am and arrived at the airport at 4am this morning, only to discover a significant delay… we then rebooked. Our daughter was supposed to travel with us, but she has now gone to Leeds Bradford airport to depart.”
She added, “Unfortunately, what was supposed to be a four-day holiday in Kefalonia has now been shortened to three days… but the good news is that I am writing this from our plane, so hopefully, we will finally take off!”
The power outage, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday, resulted in the cancellation of approximately 70 departures and 50 arrivals, according to aviation analytics company Cirium. For several hours, no flights departed from two of the three terminals, causing immense lines and a malfunction of baggage systems.
In a message to passengers, Jet2.com informed that some flights had taken off with “limited or no luggage” as the baggage system was “not functioning” during the outage. The airline also warned that it could take “some time” to return luggage to its owners.
As a result of the disruption, a number of arriving flights were diverted to other airports. A Singapore Airlines flight from Houston, Texas, was rerouted to Heathrow, while another from Singapore landed at Gatwick. An Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport was also diverted to Birmingham Airport.
Hayden Lewis, a passenger attempting to fly to the Greek island of Skiathos, shared his experience after being in the airport for about five hours. “We are now in Birmingham thanks to my father, who picked us up from Manchester and took us here,” Lewis told Sky News on Sunday. “All because easyJet cannot provide us with a definite return flight and expect us to continue checking the app [along with thousands of others].”
Manchester Airport’s managing director, Chris Woodroofe, apologized for the chaos and assured that an investigation will take place to determine the cause of the power outage. In a statement released on Monday, the airport announced that it “may experience slightly higher traffic than usual due to the impact of yesterday’s cancellations.” However, they assured that extra staff have been deployed, and their resilience team is working to assist with the situation.