Manchester Airport faces major delays after runway closure

15 Dec 2025 16:15
15 Dec 2025 16:30

1043109
Economics
Share

Manchester Airport faces major delays after runway closure

Photo: MEN Media

Manchester Airport has experienced significant delays on dozens of arrivals and departures due to the closure of one of its two runways, affecting thousands of passengers at the UK’s third-busiest airport.

The runway was closed after a surface failure was detected on one of the taxiways, requiring engineers to shut it down for repairs, News.Az reports, citing The Independent.

Compounding the situation, heavy rain has caused poor visibility, prompting air traffic controllers to limit the number of incoming flights.

While there are no restrictions on departures and some flights have departed on schedule, late arrivals are expected to cause further delays throughout the morning.

Flightradar reported: “Runway 05L/23R at Manchester airport is closed due to a surface failure. With the airport operating only one runway, passengers can expect significant delays."

Arrivals over an hour late include:

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 will be significantly delayed, jeopardising connections.

Many budget flights are also delayed. A typical example is Ryanair’s 7.50am departure from Belfast International to Manchester. The Boeing 737 was ready to leave on schedule from the Northern Ireland airport, but appears to have held on the ground awaiting a slot to land at Manchester.

It departed nearly two hours late and flew circuits west of the airport for a further 20 minutes before being cleared to land. The flight touched down two hours late – delaying the subsequent departure to Tirana in Albania.

An easyJet flight from Belfast City is also around two hours late, after a similar 20-minute hold before landing.

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

Residual delays are likely to continue into the afternoon.

News.Az