but the actual event could have been something else.

A little more detail seems to be dripping out - according to the Manchester Evening News "A sudden power cut followed by a surge of returning electricity early this morning - possibly more than once " and "Although the airport's back-up generator kicked in when the main system went down, the situation was complicated by power cutting out multiple times and then resuming." (https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-airport-power-cut-what-29408120).

So maybe it's was inrush currents (rather than excess voltage) that caused the problem, perhaps the "damaged physical infrastructure" was just a few  critically positioned cartridge fuses (I'm still guessing of course).

  - Andy.

but the actual event could have been something else.

A little more detail seems to be dripping out - according to the Manchester Evening News "A sudden power cut followed by a surge of returning electricity early this morning - possibly more than once " and "Although the airport's back-up generator kicked in when the main system went down, the situation was complicated by power cutting out multiple times and then resuming." (https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-airport-power-cut-what-29408120).

So maybe it's was inrush currents (rather than excess voltage) that caused the problem, perhaps the "damaged physical infrastructure" was just a few  critically positioned cartridge fuses (I'm still guessing of course).

  - Andy.