Flights cancelled for hours after power cut plunges Manchester airport into darkness

Flights out of Terminals 1 and 2 at Manchester airport were cancelled for hours yesterday after a power cut, leaving hundreds of holidaymakers stranded.

- Jessica Murray

The airport told all passengers due to travel from its two biggest terminals not to come to the airport, and warned passengers on the few flights that were able to leave that they may not have their luggage with them.

More than 60 departures, about a quarter of all flights taking off from the airport yesterday, were cancelled, along with 50 inbound flights.

"Manchester airport was affected by a significant power cut in the early hours of this morning," a spokesperson said. "Power has been restored but the outage affected important systems, including the processing of boarding cards and baggage screening, which has caused significant delays."

At the airport yesterday afternoon, huge piles of hundreds of suitcases could be seen stacked up in front of check-in desks as the baggage system at the airport remained inoperable, while many passengers queued for hours in the hope of getting on flights still scheduled on the departure boards.

Tensions were running high in the terminal buildings, punctuated by the sounds of announcements asking people on cancelled flights to leave the airport and to call their airline from home.

Virgin Atlantic, Jet2 and easyJet flights were among those affected.

Rick and Sue Newby, from Macclesfield in Cheshire, should have been on an easyJet flight to Lanzarote at 7am, but after arriving at the airport at 5am, checking in their luggage and heading to the gate, they found out it had been cancelled.