All flights from two terminals at Manchester Airport cancelled as passengers urged not to travel

23 June 2024, 12:56

By Kieran Kelly

@kellyjourno

All flights from two Manchester Airport terminals have been cancelled after a "major power cut" which caused huge queues and disruption to baggage processing.

In a social media post on Sunday, the airport said no flights would be departing from terminals one and two "until further notice" following the outage, which hit systems in the early hours of the morning.

It advised passengers due to travel from those terminals not to go to the airport and to contact their airlines for up-to-date information.

Those due to fly from terminal three were told to go to the airport as normal, unless advised otherwise by their airline, after some earlier departures were delayed.

There have been instances where some people's baggage was not on flights.

Airline easyJet, which operates flights from terminal one, said there were "very long queues" for security and disruption to hold baggage processing, meaning passengers could board flights only with cabin luggage.

It 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."

Meanwhile, a number of arriving flights were being diverted to other airports.

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One Singapore Airlines flight arriving from Houston in Texas had to go to London Heathrow while another, which came in from Singapore, was forced to land at London Gatwick.

An Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport was diverted to Birmingham Airport.

The airport said: "We apologise for any inconvenience and aim to restore normal service as soon as possible."

A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: "Following a site-wide power outage at Manchester Airport, baggage systems are currently not operational.

"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."

Travel expert Simon Calder with the latest on Manchester airport power cut

The airport said it is unable to give a timeframe on when it will be able to get services back up and running at normal speeds.

Inbound flights are less affected by the huge power cut, though there have been some delays at Border Control.

Airlines will organise onward journeys for passengers whose flights are cancelled.

Travel expert Simon Calder told LBC's Henry Riley earlier this morning: "The vast majority of passengers will be using Terminals 1 and 2.

"There are crowds of many thousands of people. They've been there since the early hours."

He added that a "whole swathe of flights" will be cancelled.

"People on their way to the airport will get a message saying 'your flight isn't going'."