Images from the scene show huge crowds of people waiting on the runway after having been asked to leave the terminal.
Passengers are reporting armed police at the scene, and say the incident has been sparked after an unattended bag was discovered in the Duty Free area.
Police say they were called to the airport at around 2.45pm today to reports of an unattended bag and conducted a "precautionary" evacuation of all passenegrs and staff.
Bomb disposal officers are in attendance and a controlled explosion is currently taking place.
Manchester Airport has been evacuated
Greater Manchester Police confirmed this is standard procedure and said enquiries are ongoing.
The attack comes just weeks after the Manchester Arena bombing but a police spokesman confirmed the two incidents are not connected.
Witness Chris Hawkins said police were still arriving at the scene, and had now been joined by fire crews and the bomb sqaud as passengers were left waiting outside.
He said: "Whole place evacuated. Not me personally. Police & fire arriving from all directions. Hundreds of people all over area.
"Police etc still arriving. Fire engines 10 mins ago. Masses of people all over roads & verges."
Crowds of people have been left waiting on the runway
Emily Wood, 21, who is on a plane waiting to leave for Ibiza, told the Manchester Evening News: “I am on a Thomson flight to Ibiza. The flight was due to depart at 5.20pm. As of yet, we are still to depart due to the suspicious package left at check-in.
"We first heard of the package after calls on the tannoy asked if anyone had left a ‘black and brown bag with a pink ribbon’ at the check-in. This was as we were heading to our gate.
“Approximately 40 passengers from our flight are missing, they are expected to be those evacuated from the terminals.”
Passengers are being held outside the terminal
Twitter user Karl Kerman said he was sat on a plane on the runway while the evacuation was taking place.
He said: “Stuck on plane at Manchester airport for security reasons anyone know why? #manchester
“We are still on plane and not been given any details of how long likely to be or the reason for evacuation of terminal.”
GMP Radcliffe tweeted: "Terminal 2 Manchester Airport evacuated as a precaution due to unattended bag being seen."
And a GMP spokesman said: "Shortly after 2.45pm on Friday 9 June 2017, police were called to terminal two at Manchester Airport to reports of an unattended bag.
"A precautionary evacuation has been conducted.
"Bomb disposal officers are in attendance and enquiries are ongoing."
A Manchester Airport statement said: “Due to an unattended bag being found in Terminal Two, a controlled evacuation is currently taking place, as is standard procedure.
"As always, the safety of all of our passengers is of paramount importance and we will provide an update on the situation as soon as possible.”
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