Manchester Airport is expected to be “business as usual” today – after a major power cut caused chaos for passengers on Sunday.
The outage, which hit the airport in the early hours of yesterday morning (June 23), threw thousands of passengers’ travel plans into disarray as flights from Terminals 1 and 2 were canceled “until further notice”. Passengers were told to stay away due to widespread disruption.
Power was later restored, but baggage and security systems continued to be affected throughout the day, leaving thousands facing delays and cancellations. Passengers also faced “very long queues” at security and pictures showed huge piles of luggage.
READ NEXT: Power cut at Manchester Airport: what happened?
Although the airport’s back-up generator started when the main system went down, the situation was complicated by multiple power outages and subsequent restorations. Like restarting a computer that wasn’t shut down properly, getting back to normal proved difficult.
Chris Woodroofe, chief executive of Manchester Airport, said there had been a “big spike in power” in the airport’s electrical system due to the “failure”. “This damaged some really critical equipment for our departure security and our departure baggage systems,” he added.
He offered a “sincere apology” to those affected at the airport. “It’s a very difficult situation, I couldn’t be more sorry,” he said.
In the latest update issued at around 9pm last night, a post on the official Manchester Airport X account said today’s flight schedule from the airport would “run as normal”. Passengers should still check the status of their flight before travelling.
The airport added that airlines would be in touch with passengers to re-arrange canceled flights and baggage handlers would work to ensure that luggage that did not make it onto flights was “reunited” with passengers as soon as possible. The post read: “We would like to apologize to everyone affected by today’s disruption at Terminals 1 and 2.
“[Monday’s] The schedule is expected to run as usual, with check-in two hours before the short-haul flight and three hours for the long-haul. It is always a good idea to check the status of your flight before traveling to the airport.
“Airlines will be in contact with passengers to re-arrange canceled flights as we work with airlines, their baggage handling agents and other partners to ensure that passengers whose baggage did not make it onto their flight are reunited with their things.
“We thank passengers for their patience today and would also like to thank all our employees, airlines and external partners for their hard work and resilience.”
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06:59Ashlie Blakey
“Through check-in and security in 15 minutes this morning”
This passenger said it was smooth sailing at the Jet2 check-in counters this morning.
They went through baggage check and security in 15 minutes.
06:55Ashlie Blakey
What went wrong at the airport yesterday?
Although the airport’s back-up generator started when the main system went down, the situation was complicated by multiple power outages and subsequent restorations.
Like restarting a computer that wasn’t shut down properly, getting back to normal proved difficult.
The airport is the size of a small town and effectively has its own power source, separate from the power that powers surrounding areas such as Wythenshawe and Styal.
This delivery failed, but was later recovered. The power surge — which airport officials say may have happened more than once — damaged the physical infrastructure.
A combination of power outages and damaged infrastructure complicated engineers’ efforts to get the airport back up and running.
Read the full story of what went wrong here.
06:44Ashlie Blakey
Update from Manchester Airport at 9pm yesterday
This was the latest update from Manchester Airport at 9pm yesterday.
Bosses said today’s schedule would “run as normal without further disruption”.