HUNDREDS of holiday-makers planning to jet off to the sun this weekend from Manchester have faced misery with lengthy flight delays.

Sunseekers bound for Spain are still experiencing long delays following a work to rule by Spanish air traffic controllers and there have been cancellations of some of Air France's flights because of a pilots' strike. One flight which had already been delayed more than 23 hours had to divert to Gatwick with an engine problem last night.

The Britannia Boeing 757 had just left Manchester Airport on a delayed flight to Ibiza when the pilot discovered a problem with one of the engines.

The flight, which should have left at 11.05pm on Saturday left at 10.45pm last night and had only been in the air a few minutes when the problem was discovered.

Many passengers refused to get on another plane and were bussed back to Manchester.

Flights worst hit by the industrial disputes are Britannia whose passengers are still being delayed. One flight will have been delayed for around 28 hours.

The Britannia flight to Lanzarote should have left at 8.40am yesterday and is now expected to leave at 1pm today.

A flight to Luxor due to leave at 9am yesterday finally took off at 8.15am today.

Rex Brierley, duty manager at the airport said: "Terminal One at the airport is getting back to normal with an average of three to four hour delays. The worst hit has been Britannia Airways in Terminal Two.

"Adding to the chaos is the strike of Air France pilots. They have eight flights a day in and out of Manchester."

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