Manchester Airport has refuted claims that a UFO was spotted in its airspace and floating on its runways after theories spread across social media.
Apparent images of a spherical shape at Manchester Airport started appearing on social media back in June, but have recently resurfaced, sending users into a frenzy over what the object could be.
Some users on X have called it a “strange UAP/UFO” with apparent videos and images showing the object touching down on the airport tarmac and also floating high in the air.
One user claimed that “security personnel approached, after which the object abruptly took off, displaying flight characteristics unlike any conventional aircraft”.
🛸✈️ NEWS: Strange UAP/UFO seen from Manchester Airport's cockpit!
— Dilojan (@umadilojan) November 29, 2024
It was reported that a mysterious spherical object briefly touched down on the tarmac before quickly taking off as a security vehicle drew closer. 👀
🎥 Is this a drone, or something out of this world? Strange… pic.twitter.com/TvR0yyti1n
Other users described what they said was an “orb”, a “metallic sphere”, or questioned if it was a drone.
A British “ufologist”, Mark Christopher Lee, spoke to outlets such as the Daily Express, asserting that the mysterious orb drew parallels to other incidents such as when the Australian government apparently captured an alien sphere in 1957.
However, Manchester Airport has spoken out about the UFO theories and debunked the claims.
The airport told The Independent that they believed the images to be fake, and even though the object could be a balloon or something similar, they saw nothing that proved the images were genuine unaltered footage.
A spokesperson further added to the Express: “We have systems that pick up anything that could be a threat to aviation.
“Anything that gives off a signal we would know about.”
He added that if there was anything on the airfield at the airport, as is depicted in the imagery, it would be treated as a major incident, and no such disruption event has occurred.
The Manchester Airport theories come weeks after the Pentagon released a report revealing hundreds of incidents they have encountered with unidentified and unexplained aerial phenomena – however, there are no indications suggesting any extraterrestrial origin.
The Pentagon’s review covered 757 cases from around the world reported to US authorities between 1 May 2023 to 1 June 2024.
They found explanations for nearly 300 incidents, including unknown objects revealing to be balloons, birds, aircraft, drones or satellites.
The report also said that Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system has become an increasingly common source of people mistaking the chains of satellites for UFOs.
However, there are hundreds of other cases which remain unexplained, though the report stressed that is often because there isn’t enough information available to draw firm conclusions.
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