All flights have been cancelled at two main terminals of Manchester Airport following a huge power cut in the area.
Thousands of passengers have been told not to go to the airport “until further notice” if they are flying from terminals 1 and 2.
Power was lost to an area of south Manchester, including the airport, at around 1.30am on Sunday. Terminal 3, the smallest, is restored and running with delays.
Chris Woodroofe, the airport’s managing director, said cancellations and delays will continue on Sunday, but hopes normal operations will resume on Monday.
In a video filmed outside the airport, he added: “My sincere, personal apologies to every single passenger who has been impacted by what has gone on at Manchester Airport today.”
In a bid to control crowds and get the operation back on track, the airport has ordered airlines to cut out a swathe of flights over several hours.
Derek Flint from Lytham is flying on Jet2 from Manchester to Barcelona to join a cruise that sails later today. He described the scene as “utter chaos” and told The Independent: “We arrived three hours early for an 8am flight but were told we couldn’t drop off our bags. After about 90 minutes we were called forward, our bags were labelled and put into a huge pile.
“We got through security but now our worry is whether our bags will make it.”
Later he was told his baggage had not been loaded onto the flight.
Aviation analytics firm Cirium said as of 1pm, 66 departures from Manchester have been cancelled (25 per cent of all departures) and 50 inbound flights have been cancelled (18 per cent of all departures). EasyJet has seen the largest number of cancellations so far.
Between 200 and 300 cancellations are estimated and tens of thousands of passengers are likely to be affected.
Airlines in Terminal 1 include Aer Lingus, easyJet, Emirates, Etihad and Turkish Airlines. From Terminal 2, the key airlines are Air France, Cathay Pacific, KLM Singapore Airlines, Tui and Virgin Atlantic. Jet2 and Aer Lingus operate from both.
EasyJet cancelled morning international departures to Malaga, Milan, Venice and Paris CDG, as well as flights to Belfast International, Belfast City, Jersey and the Isle of Man.
A KLM departure to Amsterdam – from which most passengers will be connecting to longer flights – has also been cancelled, with inbound flights from Abu Dhabi and Dubai diverted to Birmingham.
The failure took place at one of the worst possible times on a particularly busy day. Manchester was expecting to handle around 600 flights and 100,000 passengers today, with many of them departing in the “first wave” from as early as 5.15am.
Under air passengers’ rights rules carriers must get passengers from cancelled flights to their final destination as soon as possible, and provide hotels and accommodation until they are on their way. The bill is likely to run into millions of pounds.
The airport said in a statement: “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.
“We apologise for any inconvenience and aim to restore normal service as soon as possible.”
Ryanair and British Airways flights are operating with delays from terminal 3.
