Third consecutive weekend of flight chaos sees 20,000 passengers stranded

For a third weekend in a row, thousands of airline passengers woke up where they did not intend to be after large-scale flight cancellations. The Independent calculates that at least 150 flights to, from and within the UK were grounded on Sunday 5 January alone because of heavy snow and high winds.

With few alternative departures available, it is likely that 20,000 passengers were stranded – both in the UK and abroad – because their flights were cancelled or diverted.

The biggest problems were at Manchester airport, where the runway was closed because of snow for three hours on Sunday morning. The closure triggered 15 diversions – mainly of intercontinental flights – and 70 cancellations.

Some planes were diverted abroad, to Paris, Dublin and Shannon. The unluckiest passengers to be caught up in the snow chaos were the 243 on board Singapore Airlines flight SQ52, who endured not one but two diversions from Manchester to Gatwick.

The Airbus A350 from Singapore was due to land at Manchester at 8.35am on Sunday. As the plane approached northwest England, it went into a holding pattern over Leicestershire for 20 minutes before turning south to Gatwick.

According to Jennifer Kerry, whose daughter and son-in-law were on board, passengers were not allowed to leave the plane on arrival at the Sussex airport. About three hours later, the plane took off for Manchester. But after a further 40 minutes circling over the Peak District, they returned to Gatwick – having to hold for a further 20 minutes before landing because of congestion.

“They have just been given a few snacks in the last half-hour, the first food since 4am,” Ms Kerry said on Sunday.

“They have now been on the plane for over 22 hours. Talk of them flying up later tonight. They then have to travel across the Pennines on the M62 to get home in this horrible weather.

“Not the best treatment from supposedly the world’s best airline,” Ms Kerry concluded.

The plane finally left Gatwick for a successful third attempt at landing in Manchester, touching down soon after 7pm.

A spokesperson for Singapore Airlines said: “We are providing all necessary assistance to the affected passengers, including providing hotel accommodation and the rebooking of connecting flights.

“SIA sincerely apologises to all affected passengers for the…