A power outage has caused significant disruption to flights at Manchester Airport. The disruption affected up to 90,000 passengers, resulting in flight cancellations and the diversion of visitors.
The airport has now confirmed that check-in and flights are now operating at Terminals 1 and 2.
Chris Woodroofe, the airport’s managing director, told British media that a wiring fault caused the power surge, followed by security checks and baggage checks.
“At any time Terminals 1 and 2 will be affected if they are not able to receive passengers at all tomorrow. We are very sorry for this incident and we believe the impact will not last until tomorrow.” said Woodroofe.
What caused the power outage at Manchester Airport?
The unrest began when a quarter of all flights from the airport had to be cancelled, causing long queues and frustration among passengers.
According to flight analytics company Cirium, 66 departures and 50 arrivals were canceled during the afternoon. The incident took place at the beginning of the summer holiday season, adding to the inconvenience for many tourists.
Social media has been flooded with photos and videos of the long queues, some showing passengers waiting in the dark, and many complaining about the lack of communication from airport staff.
What are your rights if your flight is cancelled?
Passengers are given certain rights when their flight is cancelled. This includes the right to rerouting on the next available flight, a full refund and a refund depending on the situation.
The airport has promised to reschedule canceled flights and reunite passengers with their luggage.
Chris assured Woodroofe that an investigation into the power outage will take place next week to prevent future incidents.
Although power was restored, more than 100 flights were scheduled to operate during the blackout, with limited space causing inbound flights to be diverted.
This includes another flight from Singapore that is routed from Houston, Texas to London Heathrow and landed at London Gatwick.
Balas Fazekas, who was going to Montenegro with his family, arrived at the airport at 2:00. After standing in line for eight hours, he learned that his flight had been cancelled.
“There are more important things in life,” he said, but added that the lack of communication was “very frustrating”.
Manchester Airport has apologized for the inconvenience and is working hard to minimize the impact that has occurred.
The airport said on Monday that no further disruptions were expected and stressed that efforts would be made to return to normalcy and help passengers affected by the chaos.
