Passengers were stuck on planes for five hours, with others sitting on floors in the airport facing day-long delays after snow caused chaos at Manchester Airport on Sunday (January 5).
Flights to and from Manchester Airport were cancelled, delayed and even diverted as far as Paris after a day of mayhem caused by heavy snow which had fallen overnight.
The airport shut its runways shortly after 6am on Sunday morning, with the closure lasting for three and a half hours, leading to several long-haul flights being diverted to other airports including Charles De Gaulle airport in the French capital.
One flight from Singapore landed at London Gatwick twice after circling above the Peak District for around 45 minutes before turning back on its second attempt of arriving at Manchester Airport. It came as delays and cancellations continued throughout the day at airports across the UK.
Nearly 30 flights due to depart from Manchester were cancelled, according to flightradar24. Around half of them were easyJet flights including four to Amsterdam as well as journeys to Sofia, Geneva, Faro, Lisbon, Prague, Amsterdam, Hamburg and Belfast.
Snow hit Greater Manchester on Sunday (January 5) -Credit:MCPIX
One passenger on a Ryanair flight to Alicante told the Manchester Evening News of the ‘chaotic’ situation on board the plane which was due to leave Manchester for Alicante at 7.30am did not depart until shortly before 2pm – causing around a five-and-a-half hour wait on board the aircraft.
They said: “The time now is currently 1pm. We have been on the plane for five and a half hours with a pregnant lady onboard and a baby and we have been offered absolutely no refreshments. This treatment from an airline is totally unacceptable.”
Suresh Venugopal, who was travelling to Chennai in India, via Doha, with Qatar Airlines, described the ‘chock-a-block’ scenes in the airport after he was informed the flight was delayed by over 14 hours. His flight was meant to depart at 7.45am but was rescheduled to the evening.
“We had checked in at 5 AM and delay messages given every two hours till 12,” he said. “The whole airport filled with passengers with no place to sit and had to find refuge on the floor.
Flights were delayed or diverted -Credit:MCPIX
“The flight now is provisionally slotted for 10pm, with no information on the status of the connecting flight. Airport is chock-a-block with passengers. As rest of the flights have started to take off, it is easing a bit.”
Another passenger told the M.E.N. that they arrived to Manchester Airport at 3.30am for an easyJet flight to Tunisia that was due to take off three hours later. But after going through the gates, passengers were told the flight would not be leaving due to the weather.
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The flight to Enfidha-Hammamet International Airport was finally due to depart from Manchester at 3.45pm, according to the airport’s website. Several long-haul flights have also been significantly delayed and in some cases cancelled or rescheduled for another day.
According to flightradar24, the last flight to land at Manchester Airport before the temporary closure was the TUI flight from Cancun that was due to arrive at 6.05am and landed on time. After that, all flights were either delayed or diverted until shortly after 9.30am.
The Hainan Airlines flight from Beijing that was due to land in Manchester at 5.50am was the first to be diverted and was re-routed to Dublin Airport in Ireland. A TUI flight that was due to arrive from Bridgetown, an Aer Lingus flight from New York and a Ryanair flight from Funchal were also diverted to Dublin while flights from Doha, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi and Barcelona also diverted to Birmingham.
READ MORE: Singapore Airlines flight diverted from Manchester Airport to Gatwick TWICE as snow causes mayhem
READ MORE: Manchester Airport flights diverted as far as PARIS as snow forces runways to shut
Flights from Bahrain, Atlanta and Hong Kong were re-routed to London Heathrow while Orlando and Dubai flights have been sent to Glasgow. A Norse flight from Bridgetown in Barbados that was due to arrive at 6.28am was diverted to Shannon Airport in Ireland.
The furthest diversion appears to be the Air Transat flight to Toronto, due to arrive in Manchester at 7.10am, which has gone to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Some flights that were due to land in Birmingham earlier in the morning were diverted to Manchester too.
Planes covered in snow on Sunday morning -Credit:MCPIX
In a statement shortly after 6am, Manchester Airport promised to clear the runways ‘as quickly as possible’. But in an update around an hour later, the airport confirmed that the runways remained closed as the heavy snow continued while staff tried to clear the airfield.
The runway reopened at 9.30am with the two Virgin Atlantic flights, from Bridgetown and Orlando, the first to land at Manchester Airport following the temporary closure. But in a statement issued at 9.43am, the airport warned that delays were set to continue.
Manchester Airport issued another statement at 12.47pm about the continued delays caused by the heavy snow. The airport advised all passengers to check the latest flight information with airlines and recommended allowing extra time for travelling to the airport.
The airport said: “Our runways remain open, but some arrivals and departures may still be subject to delays as a result of the earlier closure due to heavy snow in the early hours of this morning. Passengers due to travel today are advised to check with their airlines for the latest information regarding their flights.
“We also recommend all passengers should plan their travel to the airport, allow extra time, make sure the are dressed for the weather and pack supplies for their journey, including socks and a phone charger. The safety of our passengers is always our top priority and we thank you for your patience, and all our teams for their hard work in getting our runways open again.”
In a new statement to the M.E.N, an airport spokesperson said: “The safety of our passengers is always our number one priority. Following heavy snowfall in the early hours of this morning that meant we had to temporarily close our runways, our teams worked hard so that we were able to reopen them safely shortly after 9am. The closure has cause some delays and cancellations and we thank passengers for their patience.”
Ryanair and Qatar Airways have also been approached for a statement.