21-03-2025
Heathrow closure latest: First flights to leave tonight announced; No 10 says 'questions to answer' over shutdown
Passengers diverted to Manchester facing long wait for return coach to Heathrow
Our North of England correspondent Katie Barnfield is at Manchester Airport, which accepted five diverted flights this morning that were originally heading for Heathrow. Among those are flights travelling from Nairobi, New York and Dubai.
Barnfield has spoken to passengers who left the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and were initially told they were heading to Gatwick.
They were then diverted to Brussels, where they were held on the asphalt for four hours before flying up to Manchester.
Airlines are trying to organise coaches to drive passengers to London, though it appears people could be waiting a while.
"One of the drivers of those coaches told me that the airlines have been calling around since 4.30am this morning trying to get as many drivers as they could to come here and pick up those passengers," Barnfield says.
"But he said that just weren't enough drivers available. As far as he was aware, nine coaches so far had been sent here to Manchester to pick up those passengers, but people could be waiting for quite a long time."
"In terms of a knock-on impact here at Manchester, it's not been too bad at the moment," she adds.
"But for those passengers who've been diverted here and suddenly found themselves 200 miles away from where they thought they would be in Heathrow, there is still a bit of a journey for them"
