Dozens of flights have been delayed at Manchester Airport today due to a minor defect on the taxiway.
From: chesterstandard.co.uk
One runway had to be closed as repairs were carried out.
The disruption has happened as the airport is preparing for its ‘biggest Christmas yet” with more than 1.5 million passengers due to travel through the travel hum over the festive break.
Repairs have now been completed and the runway is about to reopen.
A spokesman for Manchester Airport said: “The runway is opening any minute now and we're getting back to normal.
“There are delays but the majority are under half an hour.
“"What happened was that a small area of a taxiway connecting our two runways had slightly degraded - it's akin to when the top layer of a road surface crumbles slightly, but on an airfield you can't have anything like that so we have to repair it right away, which meant closing one of the runways.
"Because of that we restricted arrivals but not departures.
"Departures have, however, been affected by low visibility due to the rain and slow movement around the airfield due to the repairs taking place.
"The result is that there are delays but the majority of them are under an hour, although there are a small number of flights subject to more significant waits than that.
"We'll see some residual disruption over the rest of the day but our advice to passengers is to come to the airport as normal but as always to keep an eye out for updates from their airline."
The Met Office had issued a yellow warning for rain until noon today.
National Highways has warned of flooding on the roads close to Manchester Airport due to heavy rainfall.
Two lanes of four on the M56 were closed due to flooding this morning.
From: chesterstandard.co.uk
One runway had to be closed as repairs were carried out.
The disruption has happened as the airport is preparing for its ‘biggest Christmas yet” with more than 1.5 million passengers due to travel through the travel hum over the festive break.
Repairs have now been completed and the runway is about to reopen.
A spokesman for Manchester Airport said: “The runway is opening any minute now and we're getting back to normal.
“There are delays but the majority are under half an hour.
“"What happened was that a small area of a taxiway connecting our two runways had slightly degraded - it's akin to when the top layer of a road surface crumbles slightly, but on an airfield you can't have anything like that so we have to repair it right away, which meant closing one of the runways.
"Because of that we restricted arrivals but not departures.
"Departures have, however, been affected by low visibility due to the rain and slow movement around the airfield due to the repairs taking place.
"The result is that there are delays but the majority of them are under an hour, although there are a small number of flights subject to more significant waits than that.
"We'll see some residual disruption over the rest of the day but our advice to passengers is to come to the airport as normal but as always to keep an eye out for updates from their airline."
The Met Office had issued a yellow warning for rain until noon today.
National Highways has warned of flooding on the roads close to Manchester Airport due to heavy rainfall.
Two lanes of four on the M56 were closed due to flooding this morning.