Huge delays hit Manchester airport after runway shut

All arrivals and departures are taking place on one runway as urgent repairs are carried out

Dozens of arrivals and departures at Manchester airport have been heavily delayed because of the closure of one of the two runways. Thousands of passengers flying to and from the UK’s third-busiest airports are affected.

A dozen easyJet flights to and from the northwest hub, affecting an estimated 2,000 passengers, have been cancelled as a result.

A spokesperson for easyJet said: “Although it’s now open, due to the earlier temporary closure of one of the runways at Manchester airport this morning, some flights were unable to operate.

“We did all we could to support our customers whose flights have been impacted by the closure, including options to rebook or a refund for those whose flights have been cancelled.

“We advise customers flying to and from Manchester today to check the status of their flight on our Flight Tracker for the most up to date information."

The cause of the closure was a surface failure on one of the taxiways. In order to fix it, engineers needed to close one of the runways.

Poor visibility due to rain added to the problem. The number of inbound flights was capped by air traffic controllers.

Although there were no limits on departures, and some flights departed on time, aircraft arriving late caused delays that are extending into the afternoon and evening.

Arrivals over an hour late included.

• British Airways from Heathrow
• KLM from Amsterdam
• Lufthansa from Frankfurt
• SAS Scandinavian Airlines from Copenhagen
• Finnair from Helsinki
• Turkish Airlines from Istanbul

All the corresponding return flights to those key hubs were significantly delayed, some by over two hours, jeopardising connections.

Manchester airport is urging passengers to come to the airport as usual but to watch for updates from their airline.

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