Manchester Airport passengers face disruption and lost luggage a day after power cut

Officials say normal operations have resumed as investigation is launched into incident

Passengers queue outside Manchester Airport's Terminal 1 after Sunday's power cut. Reuters

Thousands of travellers at Manchester Airport faced disruption on Monday after a weekend power cut, despite officials saying flights had resumed.

The power cut, which hit in the early hours of Sunday, caused dozens of flights to be cancelled, with no aircraft able to depart from terminals 1 and 2. There were also long queues at the airport and baggage processing were disrupted.

The incident meant several flights were diverted to other airports. An Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi was redirected to Birmingham Airport.

A Singapore Airlines flight from Houston, Texas, was diverted to London Heathrow while a flight from Singapore landed at London Gatwick.

Manchester airport is the third busiest in the UK, handling about 27 million passengers a year.

People waiting to travel on alternative flights and passengers whose luggage was not loaded on to aircraft were among those affected on Monday. Airline Jet2.com said it "may take some time" for all baggage to reach passengers.

The airport issued a statement to apologise to all those affected. It said normal operations had resumed, but the services would be busier as officials deal with the effects of Sunday's disruption.

“All our systems are running as normal today, so passengers are advised to prepare to travel as usual from Manchester Airport," it said in a post on X.

“That means going online to check the status of your flights before you leave then following your airline’s instructions in terms of when to arrive at the airport – usually two hours for short-haul and three hours for long-haul.

“The airport is likely to be slightly busier than usual due to passengers affected by cancellations yesterday, but we have extra staff in place and our resilience team is helping out.”

Managing director Chris Woodroofe said a "fault with a cable had caused a power surge that took down security systems and baggage screening". An investigation into the incident is under way, he added.

It been a difficult few years for the UK's travel industry. A problem with immigration e-gates at airports across the UK last month caused long delays for thousands of passengers, while a technical issue with air traffic control systems last year also caused widespread disruption.