Disruption and long queues continued at Manchester Airport after a major power cut grounded all flights from two terminals.
The airport issued a statement Monday morning saying operations were back up and running and urged passengers to “prepare to travel as normal.”
But thousands of people remained affected on Monday morning, with some waiting for alternative flights and others who managed to take off only to find that their luggage had not been loaded onto the plane.
Some travelers complained about long lines for baggage drop-off and a significant number of planes were still delayed.
Queue of passengers at the airport after power cut. Photo: Chris Shaw/Reuters
Sian Hopwood, from Lancashire, was trying to get to Kefalonia, Greece, but her Sunday flight was cancelled. She was trying again on Monday.
“Yesterday showed how archaic this airport can be,” Hopwood told Sky News.
“We had a rescheduled flight from Manchester for 6am so we woke up at 2.30am and got to the airport at 4am this morning only to find we had a huge delay… so we rebooked.
“Our daughter is going with us but has now gone to Leeds Bradford Airport to escape.
“Unfortunately, what was a four-day holiday in Cephalonia is now a three-day holiday… but the good news is that I’m writing this from our plane and I hope we finally take off!”
Passengers stranded at Manchester Airport
Dozens of canceled flights
The power outage, which hit the systems in the early hours of Sundaymeant around 70 departures and 50 arrivals were cancelled, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
No flights left two of the three terminals for several hours, causing huge queues and baggage system failures.
In a message to passengers, Jet2.com said some flights departed with “reduced or no baggage” as the baggage system was “inoperative” during the disruption.
It may take “some time” to return luggage to owners, they added.
Queue of passengers outside Terminal 1. Photo: Reuters
The disruption meant that several arriving flights were diverted to other airports.
A Singapore Airlines flight that arrived from Houston, Texas, had to go to Heathrow, while another, which arrived from Singapore, landed at Gatwick.
An Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport was diverted to Birmingham Airport.
One passenger, Hayden Lewis, said his flight to the Greek island of Skiathos was canceled after he was at the airport for around five hours.
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He later went to Birmingham Airport after being dropped off by his father and was hopeful of reaching his destination.
“We are now in Birmingham thanks to my dad, who picked us up in Manchester and dropped us off in Birmingham,” Lewis told Sky News on Sunday.
“All because easyJet doesn’t know when they can get us out, but they want us to keep checking the app [along with the thousands of others].”
Chris Woodroofe, managing director of Manchester Airport, apologized for the chaos and said an investigation into what happened is set to take place.
On Monday, a statement from the airport said that “it is likely to be a little busier than normal due to passengers affected by yesterday’s cancellations, but we have extra staff on site and our resilience team is helping.”
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
