One of the busiest airports in the United Kingdom, Manchester Airport, suffered a power cut, eventually triggering lengthy flight delays and cancellations.
Tens of thousands of passengers flying in and out of Manchester Airport are facing lengthy delays and flight cancellations. At around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday night, power went out across the south Manchester area, including the airport. Terminal 3, the smallest, recovered and is operating with delays. But the two much larger terminals, 1 and 2, have long queues and growing passenger numbers.
Manchester Airport was affected by a major power cut in the area earlier this morning. This has caused widespread disruption and a significant number of flights, particularly from Terminals 1 and 2, are expected to be delayed or cancelled. Passengers due to travel from Terminals 1 or 2 today are advised to contact their airlines for up-to-date information before coming to the airport. 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, the airport said.
In an attempt to control congestion and get operations back on track, the airport has ordered airlines to halt a number of flights this morning for several hours. The aim is to remove passengers already at the airport and then resume operations as close to schedule as possible in the afternoon and evening.
The airport said power is now back on, but reiterated that a number of flights are expected to be cancelled. The airport advised passengers due to depart from Terminals 1 and 2 not to come to the airport until further notice and to contact their airlines.
The Independent reported a number of flights that were due to arrive at Manchester Airport have now diverted to other airports. For instance, incoming flights from Abu Dhabi and Dubai diverted to Birmingham, flights from Beijing and Bahrain landed at Heathrow, a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt landed in Liverpool and so forth.
The accident came at one of the worst moments of a particularly busy day. Manchester Airport was expecting to handle about 600 flights and 100,000 passengers, with many departing as early as 5:15 a.m.
