Airport apologises following horrendous delays over Bank Holiday weekend

Manchester Airport has apologised to passengers who had to wait for three hours for their baggage to arrive over the busy bank holiday weekend.

Many passengers complained of horrendous delays at the airport on Friday evening.

The airport apologised and Ryanair said a fire alarm led to an evacuation at Terminal 3 which stretched the Swissport handling staff.

A Swissport spokeswoman said the firm realised the delays were “frustrating to passengers”.

She added: “We always work closely with our airline and airport partners to mitigate the impact of these schedule disruptions to passengers, but we understand these delays were frustrating to passengers during this busy bank holiday period.”

The evacuation led to delays of eight flights and triggered long delays in the baggage hall.

A Ryanair spokesman said: “The evacuation led to further delays in the delivery of the baggage into the arrivals hall when these delayed flights returned to Manchester”.

The airport and Swissport are conducting an investigation into the delays.

A Ryanair spokesman said: “We are awaiting Swissport’s reports to ensure that it does not recur.

“We apologise sincerely to any passengers who were inconvenienced by this delayed delivery of baggage, which was caused by the fire alarm/evacuation of the terminal building last evening.”

A Manchester Airport spokesman said: “We’d like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to passengers.”