A hole appeared in runway 05L/23R at Manchester Airport on September 20, 2026, forcing the airport to close the runway for approximately two hours. The closure caused operational disruption including the diversion of three Manchester-bound flights to Liverpool Airport. Flight XQ592 from Antalya, LS884 from Pisa, and LS802 from Rhodes were redirected. Additionally, Pegasus Airlines flight PC7281 from Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen was diverted to Stansted Airport.
Although the runway reopened after maintenance, delays continued to affect Manchester Airport throughout the day. Travel service Inrix reported that departing flights were delayed by an average of fifty minutes as of September 20,
2026. Aviation News UK indicated that knock-on delays persisted into the evening among arriving and departing flights.
Official Responses
A Manchester Airport spokesperson stated, “One of our runways closed for a short period today to allow routine maintenance to take place.” Pegasus Airlines informed passengers that their flight PC7281 was diverted to Stansted due to Manchester’s closure and that a replacement flight would be arranged to minimize disruption.
Previous Runway Issues at Manchester Airport
This runway incident follows an earlier occurrence on August 31, 2026, when a hole at the Delta Zulu crossing point caused several hours of disruption at Manchester Airport. Like the September 20 incident, the
defect required operational adjustments and affected multiple flights during the holiday weekend.
