Chaos continues at UK airport as runway defect sees flights cancelled or diverted with homecoming Brits forced to land hundreds of miles from home

A runway defect at Bristol Airport forced the closure of the site on Friday night, causing widespread disruption as flights were cancelled or diverted to airports hundreds of miles away. Although operations resumed at 8am on Saturday, the airport warned that knock-on delays would continue throughout the day, leaving many returning holidaymakers facing long and costly journeys to get home.

Passengers described chaotic scenes, with hundreds stranded in crowds at departure gates and little communication from staff, including over an hour without tannoy announcements. One passenger, Dave Blackwell, landed 246 miles away in Newcastle after flying from Rhodes and faced a five-to-six-hour bus journey home, while other flights were sent to Bournemouth, Birmingham and Cardiff. Furious travellers took to social media to criticise EasyJet and the airport over poor communication, with some reporting being locked in terminal areas and left without hotel arrangements. Bristol Airport apologised for the inconvenience, saying essential runway repairs had been necessary and directed passengers to contact their airlines for flight queries.