Power cut halts all flights from two Manchester Airport terminals

Balázs Fazeka, who was due to fly to Montenegro for a week-long holiday with his wife and eight-month-old baby, arrived at 02:00 BST and, after eight hours standing in queues, found out the flight had been cancelled.

“There are bigger issues in life than this," he said, but added the lack of communication from the airport had been “quite frustrating”.

Another passenger, Phillip Banfield, said his plane had taken off while he was stuck after going through passport control.

He said he was surrounded by an “enormous number of passengers, stranded, wondering how they’re going to continue onwards journeys".

It had been "virtually impossible" to get through check-in and security, which was only feasible if you were just carrying hand luggage, he added.