Manchester Airport flights hit by delays as planes spotted circling overhead after issue

Planes headed to Manchester Airport were hit by temporary delays this afternoon that saw multiple planes circling overhead.

A runway was temporarily closed following a lighting issue that lasted around 20 minutes, the airport said, with flight spotters being able to see a number of aircrafts circling over areas such as Bolton and Lancashire from around 7pm.

One witness posted on X: "A380 doing circuits over Blackburn, with a Logan air doing similar. Something going on at Manchester airport."

And another said: "Just out now around Blackburn myself and wondering the same thing. Six planes all circling for the airport. Not very common around here."

Another added: "I was wondering the same. Looks like they changed runways to 23L, with an Ops vehicle on 23R. I’m guessing something is on the runway that needs shifting or fixing, so they’ve had to reshuffle flights onto single runway for arrivals & departures."

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The airport said a lighting issue saw a runway temporarily shut as a precaution. They said the issue was fixed within 20 minutes and everything is back in full operation.

A Manchester Airport spokesman told the Manchester Evening News: "Due to temporary lighting issue one of our runways were briefly closed as a precaution. It was reopened after around 20 minutes and operations are back to normal now."

Multiple flights have seen some minor delays with the longest including -