Passengers travelling from Manchester Airport faced widespread flight delays on Friday, 2 October, with dozens of departures running behind schedule throughout the day.

The disruption affected a range of domestic and international services, including flights to popular European holiday destinations.

Flight tracking data showed the scale of the delays changing throughout the day. FlightRadar24 recorded 96 delayed flights at one stage, representing around 29% of departures, with the figure later rising to 115 delayed flights, or around 35% of departures.

Ibiza Flights Also Affected

The disruption also reached Manchester's connection with Ibiza.

Flight data showed the Manchester-Ibiza route among the routes experiencing delays during the day. Earlier data placed the median delay on the Ibiza route at around 19 minutes, while later figures showed the route's median delay had risen to approximately 55 minutes.

One Manchester-Ibiza service operated by Ryanair was scheduled to arrive at Manchester at 14:25 but landed at approximately 15:23, around 58 minutes behind schedule.

The disruption therefore affected passengers travelling in both directions between the UK airport and Ibiza.

Delays Across Multiple Routes

The delays were not limited to Ibiza.

Manchester's departure boards showed late-running services to destinations including Vienna, Belfast, Stockholm, Dalaman, Barcelona, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Doha during the day.

Some individual flights experienced significantly longer delays. For example, flight-tracking data showed a Vienna service more than two hours behind its scheduled departure time at one point, while a Belfast service was also more than an hour late.

Cancellations Were More Limited

Despite the large number of delayed flights, cancellations were considerably fewer.

Flight-status data recorded several cancellations at Manchester on 2 October, including services to Orkney, Mumbai and Antalya. One live status source recorded seven cancellations across arrivals and departures by the evening.

This means the main issue for passengers was delay rather than widespread cancellation.

Weather Not the Main Explanation

Weather conditions were unsettled across northwest England on Friday, with rain moving through the region and winds increasing later in the day. The Met Office forecast for Manchester showed rain during the evening and wind gusts reaching around 30 mph overnight.

However, available airport-delay data did not establish weather as the primary cause of the delays.

One flight-tracking analysis specifically stated that the operational delays at Manchester were not being attributed to weather conditions at the time of its assessment.

It is therefore safer not to describe the disruption as a weather-related airport shutdown or to attribute all of the delays to the weather.

Passengers Advised to Check Their Flight

With departure times changing throughout the day, passengers travelling from Manchester were advised to check the latest status of their individual flight directly with their airline before travelling to the airport.

The situation also demonstrates why passengers travelling between Manchester and Ibiza should check both their outbound and return flights, particularly when connecting services or airport transfers are involved.

For Ibiza travellers, the key point is that the Manchester-Ibiza route was among those experiencing delays on Friday, although the level of disruption changed during the day.