A flight to Manchester Airport has landed in London AGAIN after being diverted from its original destination for a second time.
The flight from Singapore was supposed to land at Manchester Airport this morning (January 5) when the runways were shut due to snow. Several flights to Manchester were diverted, including to Paris, Dublin and Glasgow during the three-and-a-half-hour closure.
The runways reopened shortly after 9.30am but the airport warned of continued delays throughout the day with some flights cancelled. Singapore Airlines flight SQ 52 left Changi Airport at 2.13am local time and was due to arrive in Manchester at 9.25am.
However, the flight was re-routed to London and landed at Gatwick Airport at 9.48am. According to flightradar24, the aircraft took off again at 10.48am, heading to Manchester – but it circled in the air above the Peak District for around 45 minutes before turning back.
The flight landed back at London Gatwick at around 1.55pm. According to Singapore Airlines, it is due to head to Manchester again.
The estimated departure time is currently 4pm, according to the airline’s website, with the flight due to arrive at Manchester Airport on the third attempt shortly before 5pm. The flight is then due to go to Houston, Texas after an hour and a half layover in Manchester.
The double diversion means that the flight to Houston that was due to leave Manchester Airport at 10.05am has been delayed by more than eight hours. Anyone travelling on the flight all the way from Singapore to Houston will have spent 34 hours travelling.
Several other flights that were due to land in Manchester on Sunday (January 5) were also diverted elsewhere, including in Paris, Dublin and Glasgow. According to flightradar24, the last flight to land at Manchester Airport before the temporary closure this morning (January 5) was the TUI flight from Cancun that was due to arrive at 6.05am and landed on time.
After that, all flights were delayed or diverted until shortly after 9.30am when the runways had been cleared. The Hainan Airlines flight from Beijing that was due to land in Manchester at 5.50am was the first to be diverted and re-routed to Dublin Airport in Ireland.
A TUI flight that was due to arrive from Bridgetown, an Aer Lingus flight from New York and a Ryanair flight from Funchal were also diverted to Dublin. Flights from Doha, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi and Barcelona were also diverted, but only as far as Birmingham Airport.
Flights from Bahrain, Atlanta and Hong Kong were re-routed to London Heathrow while Orlando and Dubai flights have been sent to Glasgow. A Norse flight from Bridgetown in Barbados that was due to arrive at 6.28am was diverted to Shannon Airport in Ireland.
The furthest diversion appears to be the Air Transat flight to Toronto, due to arrive in Manchester at 7.10am, which has gone to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Some flights due to land in Birmingham in the early hours of the morning were diverted to Manchester too.
Manchester Airport says it is up to airlines to get passengers to their original destination. Passengers diverted to airports in other countries are expected to be flown back to Manchester but those at airports that are closer, such as Birmingham, may be put on buses to the city.