A significant power cut at Manchester Airport in the early hours of Sunday caused chaos for thousands of travellers, with all flights from terminals one and two cancelled. The airport advised passengers due to travel from its two largest terminals not to come to the airport, warning that some flights that did depart might leave without checked luggage.
More than 60 departures, roughly a quarter of the airport's scheduled Sunday flights, were cancelled along with 50 inbound services. In a statement, the airport said power had been restored but the outage had disrupted critical systems, including boarding card processing and baggage screening, leading to significant delays. Hundreds of suitcases were seen piled up at check-in desks as the baggage system remained out of action, and passengers queued for hours hoping to catch later flights.
Among those affected were Rick and Sue Newby from Macclesfield, whose early morning easyJet flight to Lanzarote was cancelled. They rebooked on a Jet2 flight for the afternoon, only for that to be cancelled as well. “We paid nearly £500 extra for new flights to get out there today,” said Sue. “We have been here since 5am.”
Paula and Meredydd Williams, from Snowdonia, were trying to find alternative flights to Nice after their 12.55pm departure was cancelled. They said they had received little information and learned of the power cut only from their daughter. Emma Jones, from Wrexham, said she had been on hold to Jet2 for over an hour trying to rebook her cancelled flight to Greece, having been told earlier to come to the airport as normal.
Passengers also reported being told they could not take hold luggage on flights that went ahead. Sharon Hudson, who was waiting to travel to Egypt, expressed concern about managing a two-week holiday with only hand luggage, noting that baggage might take a week to arrive if it turned up at all. Social media videos showed the airport in darkness during the outage, and many travellers voiced frustration that disruption continued hours after power had been restored.
