Flight operations began to return to normal at Manchester Airport in northern England on Sunday afternoon, following the cancellation of several flights earlier due to a power outage. The airport stated in a statement on Sunday afternoon: "Following the power outage which disrupted Terminals 1 and 2 earlier today, we are in the process of resuming our activities." Manchester Airport, the third busiest airport in the UK in terms of passenger numbers, had to cancel all departing flights from the terminals because the power cut affected "key systems," including those for issuing boarding passes and baggage screening.
However, the airport asked travelers departing from these terminals not to head to the airport before contacting their airlines for flight information. The airport noted that it is working "closely" with airlines "to reschedule canceled flights in the coming days." Flights scheduled for Monday are not expected to be affected. Departure flights had been severely disrupted since early Sunday morning. Images shared on social media showed long queues of passengers and abandoned luggage, with travelers describing "chaos." The power outage also affected incoming flights, with some redirected to other airports such as London and Birmingham.
Airport director Chris Woodroofe stated in a video posted on social media that the situation "will recover throughout the afternoon and evening" and that operations will return "to normal tomorrow" Monday.