Flights in and out of Manchester Airport halted after power surge affects fuel supply

Planes that need to refuel are unable to take off and some flights have been diverted to Liverpool and Birmingham. Other planes are stopping to refuel en route.

Passengers have complained of delays of more than two hours as well as being told to board planes but then not being able to take off.

A spokesman for the airport said: "Due to a power issue this afternoon there is currently an issue with the fuel supply at the airport and we have engineers on-site working to fix this. Please speak to your airline for specific flight information and updates."

They said 86 flights both in-bound and out-bound had been cancelled so far, affecting thousands of passengers.

Sarah Plummer from Preston told how her husband was stuck. She said: "My husband was meant to set off just to Ireland two hours ago and he is still waiting."

Amanda Moon posted on Facebook: "We've flown from Alicante (jet2) @4.30pm (after already having 1hr delay) & got diverted to Leeds Bradford Airport!!! Have had to wait nearly 2 hours for a coach to take us to Manchester and our taxi firm (avacab) are charging us extra £15 per hour as cabbie has to wait for us. Total shambles but feel for people stuck on a plane. Communication is rubbish...."

Passenger Ellis Davies tweeted: "Heads up on anyone is flying out of #ManchesterAirport this evening - no flights leaving atm as there’s no fuel! They’ll only tell you once you’re ON THE PLANE. Been sat on the tarmac for 90 minutes."

Paul Hitchman tweeted: "Absolute shambles at #manchesterairport apparently a electrical failure in the fuel transfer system causing major delays. Bring back the tankers."

And the electrical issue has had knock-on effects all across Europe.

Chloe Tomkinson tweeted: "No planes allowed into Manchester airport, currently sitting in Paris on the tarmac and have been for the past 2 hours."