Travel agents were left to deal with the fallout after a power failure at Manchester airport led to the cancellation of dozens of flights on Sunday.
More than 90,000 people were reportedly affected when the outage led to problems with security and baggage screening.
Today’s schedule is “expected to run as usual with no further disruption” following the chaos, with passengers advised to travel to the airport as normal.
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But the impact from the knock-on effects of clearing the backlog remains unclear, with passengers having to be rebooked onto alternative flights, airline schedules disrupted and baggage, which could not be loaded onto aircraft, needing to be re-united with owners.
Local agents on social media questioned the absence of contingency plans at the airport after the power outage at 1.30am yesterday led to more than 70 departures – a quarter of the total – being cancelled together with 50 inbound flights.
The data provided by aviation analytics firm Cirium suggested that EasyJet suffered from the largest number of cancellations.
Manchester airport managing director Chris Woodroofe said on a video posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday: “My sincere, personal apologies to every single passenger who has been impacted by what has gone on at Manchester airport today.
“There was a big power spike in our electrical system due to a failure early om this morning.
“This damaged some really key equipment for our departures security and our departures baggage systems.
“That has meant both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 haven’t been able to depart aircraft today and as a result we haven’t been able to have aircraft arrive as there is no space to park those aircraft on the airfield.”
A later statement issued by the airport said: “Airlines will be in touch with passengers to re-arrange cancelled flights as we work with airlines, their baggage handling agents and other partners to make sure passengers whose bags did not make it onto their flights are reunited with their belongings as soon as possible.”
However, no reason was given for the outage which caused a power surge and blackout across two of the three terminals at the northwest hub.
Jet2 issued a warning about “significant disruption and cancellations” to departures, with flights to and from Lesvos, Kefalonia and Zante having to be rescheduled until today.
“Due to the outage, some flights departed with reduced or no luggage as we were unable to load bags onto our aircraft, as the baggage system at the airport was inoperable during the outage.
“We understand how frustrating this situation must be and although the situation was beyond our control we will do everything we can to get all luggage to its final destination as soon as we possibly can.”
Six Tui flights due to operate yesterday – to Kefalonia, Faro, Dubrovnik, Paphos, Larnaca and Tenerife – were postponed until today and two others – to Ibiza and Dalaman – were delayed until Sunday night.
Tui said in an update at 9.46pm: “We’re still experiencing severe disruption to our planned departures, however, we are pleased to confirm that every effort is being taken so customers can go their holiday as planned, and we have not cancelled any flights.
“Customers due to fly today have been contacted directly via text message and email about new flight departure times.
“We would also like to apologise to those customers who departed Manchester airport this morning on holiday without any bags, or had a leave the airport on arrival this morning without their luggage as the baggage system remains inoperable.
“Our team are doing everything they can to reunite passengers with their baggage.”
EasyJet said its bag-drop re-opened at 3pm ready for flights departing after 4.30pm on Sunday following the overnight power outage but passengers were urged to check the status of their flights.
“If you have booked a package with easyJet holidays and you’ve been impacted by the power outage, our dedicated easyJet holidays team will be in touch with you directly to discuss your options,” the airline added.
Virgin Atlantic said the airport’s baggage systems were affected following a “site-wide” power outage.
“We’d like to inform customers that baggage system issues have been resolved and are now operational,” the carrier said.
“Our Manchester operated flights are scheduled to depart as normal on 24 June 2024, however the airport may be busier than usual, so we kindly request that customers arrive at the airport as normal in time for their flights.
“We are currently experiencing high call volumes with wait times of up to two hours. If your travel isn’t imminent, we will be able to answer your call a lot quicker if you call us another time.”
Travel Village Group chief executive Phil Nuttall posted on Facebook: “Another day on the travel industry..sleeves rolled up..day fecked up…people’s dreams fecked up.”
And he asked: “How in this day and age can there be no contingency plans Manchester airport?”
Ramsbottom-based Designer Travel said many of its customers were affected but the company managed to rebook all holidays.
Which? Travel editor Rory Boland said: “These delays and cancellations will be incredibly disappointing for thousands of travellers whose summer holidays or Euro 2024 plans could be in jeopardy.
“Although this issue is not the fault of the airlines, they still have a legal duty of care to customers.
“This includes continuing to provide necessary support and assistance during delays, including overnight accommodation where required, and rebooking, even if it involves other carriers and airports.”