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happened." At Manchester, flights were being delayed for at least an hour this morning, many for two hours.

But later today it was anticipated flights would be delayed for much longer because planes were left out of position and flight crews reached the limit of the amount of time they are legally allowed to work. Replacement crews must be drafted in.

A spokeswoman for British Airways said: "There was a fear that the air traffic problem was going to last all day but it seems to have cleared now.

"Our first shuttle got away ok but that was before the crash. There will be delays and there may be cancellations because of the knock-on affect. We are advising people to turn up."

An airport spokesman at first advised passengers to stay away but reversed the decision when the air traffic control system came back on line.

john.scheerhout@men-news.co.uk

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