Jonathan Dove's Flight is something of a rarity - a modern opera which has made it into mainstream repertoire.

Commissioned and premiered by Glyndebourne on tour in 1998, this is the second time it has been revived for the summer festival. It has also been on Channel 4 and toured Europe and the United States.

It is written and performed in English and influenced by a similar story which proved successful in the Tom Hank's film The Terminal.

In the opera version, a group of characters is placed inside a modern airport lounge and slowly tell their stories during a crisis where the airport is grounded, not by a baggage handlers' strike or a walk-out by catering staff but by an electrical storm.

Among the passengers are the Refugee, a man seemingly stranded in the airport and begging passengers for food and drink, a young couple on their way to a holiday, an older woman hoping to meet her fiance, an older married couple, one of whom is a pregnant wife, a steward and stewardess and the airport controller.

As the storm - and this provokes some of the best storm music since Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes - is unleashed, so the characters begin to tell their tales and their stories develop.

The husband of the young couple has a fling with the bisexual steward, the older woman's fiance may just have been a holiday romance, the older couple separate with the husband catching the last flight out, leaving his pregnant wife at the airport, and the Refugee continues his lonely vigil.

Each character reveals his or her personality and their stories develop and grow as the long night endures until the storm abates and they can fly away.

In addition to marital strife, there is also an on-stage birth - probably the only on-stage birth in opera - the Refugee is assaulted by the other passengers and an Immigration Officer turns up to arrest him.

Unfortunately, this revival is marred by the poor diction of the singers. Their mastery of English leaves a great deal to be desired and I guess, at most, I only managed to understand one word in three. It seems, over the years, English diction has declined among many opera singers and now that the English National Opera, which only sings in English, is using subtitles, perhaps Glyndebourne should follow suit.

While the sound of the singers is still gorgeous, especially counter tenor Lawrence Zazzo, these singers need to communicate much more clearly.

Musically, Richard Farnes conducts the London Philharmonic in an immaculate fashion. But while the music helps define the action and characteristics of the singers, it cannot make up for their inability to get their words across.

In repertory until August 27, £10-£155, 01273 813813.