Flights to Spain from Manchester Airport could be caught up in scheduled departures and arrivals, due to heavy snowfall in the UK.
“Due to heavy snowfall, we have temporary closed both runways. Health and safety will always be our top priority and operations will resume at the earliest opportunity,” said a statement from Manchester Airport.
Scheduled flights from Manchester to Spain for Saturday December 10, included departures to Alicante-Elche airport.
Passengers have been advised to contact their airline for the most up-to-date flight information, with dozens of flights affected.
The Met Office has warned freezing fog, sleet and snow could bring travel disruption to parts of the UK during the coming days.
Manchester Airport departures and arrivals hit, due to heavy snow.
Southeast England has been covered by a yellow weather warning for snow and ice on December 11-12.
The western coast of England, Wales and the north of Northern Ireland have warnings for ice on December 10-11.
Scotland, apart from the southwest, has a yellow warning for snow and ice covering.
Flights scheduled for Spain from Manchester Airport over the weekend also included Barcelona.
Departures to Manchester Airport on December 10 included from Madrid, which landed at 7.58am.
“Flights are suspended at Manchester Airport so the runway can be cleared of snow and slush,” traffic alert service Inrix reported. “Outbound flights are on hold and Inbound flights divert to Birmingham, East Midlands or London.”
Flight arrivals affected to Manchester Airport are reportedly being diverted to other airports.
A spokesperson for easyJet said the airline had to cancel 16 flights due to the disruption. They said the airline was doing ‘everything possible to minimise disruption for passengers’.
In a statement, easyJet said: “Like other airlines easyJet is experiencing some disruption to its flying programme to and from Manchester as a result of the closure of the runway due to snow earlier today.
“Although the airport has now reopened, it meant some flights were delayed departing and due to the knock on effects of the closure unfortunately we have had to cancel 16 flights.
“We are doing everything possible to minimise the disruption for our customers including providing hotel rooms and meals for those passengers affected by the cancellations.
“Customers on cancelled flights have been provided the option of transferring their flight free of charge or obtaining a refund.
“We would advise that all passengers due to fly with us to or from Manchester today to check the status of their flights on Flight Tracker at www.easyjet.com/en/flight-tracker for real-time information. The safety of our passengers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority.
“Whilst this situation is outside of our control we would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of the weather.”
Ryanair also advised passengers flying from Manchester Airport and from Liverpool which has also experienced disruption to check their app for updates.
A spokesperson said: “Due to snowy weather conditions in the UK, we are experiencing a small number of delays to our flights from Liverpool and Manchester Airports.
“While our teams are working hard to minimise disruption to customers, Ryanair advises all customers flying from the UK today (10 Dec) to check the Ryanair website/app for flight status updates before travelling to the airport.
“We sincerely apologise for these weather-related delays which are entirely beyond our control.”
