Manchester Airport halted airfield operations for about 15 minutes late on Friday after a man trespassed onto the site, disrupting arrivals at one of the UK’s busiest airports. Seven inbound flights were diverted and 17 others were held in the air before normal operations resumed shortly after 23:21 BST.
Greater Manchester Police detained the man at the scene and took him to hospital for assessment after describing the incident as apparently mental-health related. Manchester Airport later confirmed that a damaged section of fence had been repaired and that a temporary fix was put in place.
The brief closure triggered immediate knock-on effects for late-night traffic, with aircraft diverted to alternative airports and several incoming services forced into holding patterns. The disruption was contained quickly, but it added pressure to a tightly timed arrival bank and delayed passengers heading into the early hours of Saturday.