Manchester Airport power outage affects travel plans of thousands

A power outage on Sunday morning disrupted dozens of flights at Manchester Airport in the UK. Photo / AP

Flights from Manchester Airport have fully resumed after a significant power cut on Sunday morning disrupted travel for about 90,000 people.

A large power cut early on Sunday morning forced the UK’s third-busiest airport to cancel all flights out of terminals 1 and 2 “until further notice”.

Power cut at Manchester Airport T2 & T3 landed at all been brought to T1 baggage thrown on any carousel no communication at all prams just left on the floor without being told @TUIUK reps didn’t have a clue what was happening. Good Luck everyone! pic.twitter.com/jgCFVJc796

— Katie Phillips (@katie_seaman) June 23, 2024

About 90,000 passengers were affected by the power cut, which occurred when a faulty cable “caused a power surge that took down security systems and baggage screening”, Manchester Airport managed director Chris Woodroofe told the BBC.

By noon, 50 inbound flights and 66 outbound flights had been cancelled, according to aviation analytics company Circum.

Passengers said things quickly devolved into “chaos” as tens of thousands of travellers continued arriving at the airport, but couldn’t proceed through security or board flights.

On Sunday morning, some airlines told passengers travelling via terminals 1 and 2 not to travel to the airport. Others were not so lucky and spent hours in the packed airport, allegedly unable to see updates on the digital departure boards.

Thank goodness I am going home now but I feel so sorry for all those poor people at Manchester Airport can't believe one power cut could cause such CHAOS pic.twitter.com/OjyKY0JQL0

— Ian The Shrew Jones 🔰 (@theshrew88) June 23, 2024

Some claimed they waited up to eight hours at the airport, only to be told their departing flight was cancelled.

“Got up at 2.30am for a 3.30am taxi to Manchester Airport for 4.30am. Got there at 4.15am. Stood outside terminal for over 4 hours before flight and holiday was cancelled,” one person wrote on X.

“Horrendous experience at T1 today and heads should roll,” another wrote, adding the airport should invest in training staff to deal with the events and have contingency plans.

Another seconded this, suggesting the airport had not learned from a major power outage in May last year.

The airport did have back-up power, which was activated when the outage occurred, but the mains power cut several times, complicating the situation.

Others messaged Manchester Airport’s X account, claiming they were stranded in destinations such as Greece and Portugal, and had no clear information about when they could return.

“I have a flight out at 17:30, the airport website and easyJet website both say the flight is still scheduled but your images say all flights are cancelled,” one person wrote.

Some people took to X to share their appreciation of staff who had nothing to do with the outage, but were calm and helpful.

“Well done to the very overworked @manairport and @Finnair staff who made it happen,” wrote one person after eventually reaching Finland.

Some flights were reportedly able to depart on Sunday, but only if the passengers had a cabin bag, due to issues with baggage processing.

Woodroofe apologised for the disruption and said the airport had worked to ensure issues didn’t continue into today.

The airport is “now in the process of resuming operations”, according to a post on X, and it would investigate the cause of the outage next week.