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Manchester airport delays: Airlines struggle to recover after fuel failure

‘We expect there will be a small number of delays and cancellations as a result of the issues experienced yesterday,’ says the airport

 

Simon Calder
Travel Correspondent
Monday 20 May 2019 08:54 BST
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Passengers make their way through a terminal building at Manchester Airport
Passengers make their way through a terminal building at Manchester Airport

More than 10,000 airline passengers are waking up this morning hundreds or thousand miles away from where they need to be because of fuelling problems at Manchester airport on Sunday afternoon and evening.

What the airport called a “power issue” led to the failure of the fuel supply system at around 2pm, with the problem eventually fixed at 3am on Monday.

As at most large airports, fuel is supplied to aircraft through a network of pipes beneath the apron. A power cut disabled the system.

Initially it was hoped the system would be restored within a few hours. Many planes were fully boarded and waited for hours on the apron until eventually the crew ran “out of hours” and passengers told to leave the plane and retrieve their baggage.

Reports from the terminals described chaotic scenes at the baggage reclaim.

So far around 100 flights have been cancelled, with easyJet, Flybe and Ryanair passengers worst affected.

Some flights operated from Liverpool airport, but delays with coaches caused further disruption.

A Manchester airport statement said: “We expect there will be a small number of delays and cancellations as a result of the issues experienced yesterday.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Pakistan International’s flight due out at 5.20 on Sunday afternoon eventually took off 13 hours late.

The Emirates Airbus A380 flight to Dubai, carrying around 500 people, left four hours late. Many of the passengers will miss onward connections at the airline’s hub.

None of the first wave of 59 flights in the three hours from 5.55am departed on time, signalling further problems later in the day.

Flybe departures to Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Belfast and Dusseldorf have been cancelled, together with the corresponding inbound legs.

Ourbound delays of over two hours include easyJet to Copenhagen, Ryanair to Alicante and Thomas Cook to Zante.

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