All flights from Terminals 1 and 2 at the Manchester Airport, one of Britain’s busiest, have been canceled after a power cut in the area caused widespread disruption, airport authorities said in a statement on Sunday.
It advised passengers due to travel from those terminals not to go to the airport and to contact their airlines for up-to-date information.
The airport also said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that 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.
“Some arriving flights are being diverted to other airports meaning people due to pick passengers up from the airport should check before setting out,” the statement said.
The disruption was first reported by Sky News, which said an issue with the power supply had affected the airport and a number of other buildings. Power has been restored but services will be affected throughout the day, the report added.
The Manchester Airports Group, which also operates London Stansted and the East Midlands airports, said Manchester Airport had been “affected by a major power cut in the area earlier this morning.”
The airport operator said that while passengers already checked in were scheduled to depart as planned, the disruption meant “some baggage may not be on those flights.”
“We will work with airlines and handling partners to reunite affected passengers with their luggage as soon as possible,” the group added.
The airline Jet2 – which operates from both terminals – said that as well as canceling dozens of flights, it was unable to load bags onto planes as the airport’s baggage system remained “inoperable.”
Airline easyJet, which operates flights from Terminal 1, warned of “very long queues” for security and said passengers could only board flights with cabin bags.
In addition, some arriving flights were being diverted to other airports according to the airport statement, including London Heathrow and Birmingham.
Some flyers took to X to describe the “chaos,” with one passenger saying they had been waiting for their bags after landing after midnight and another saying they were “stuck on the plane.”
The U.K.’s travel industry has been hit by a series of disruptions in the last few years, including technical problems and industrial action affecting rail and air passengers.
Last month, a nationwide outage of immigration e-gates caused long delays for thousands of passengers.
In August last year, the country faced its worst air traffic control disruption in almost ten years due to a technical fault.
The live tracker on Manchester Airport’s website showed a number of flights being canceled as of 3 p.m. GMT.
