Tens of thousands of airline passengers endured long delays, diversions and cancellations as low cloud and fog blanketed southeast England – which has the busiest skies in the world.
The Independent has calculated that more than 200 flights to and from UK airports were cancelled between noon on Friday and Saturday evening as air traffic controllers slowed the “flow rate” at both London Heathrow and Gatwick.
It comes as forecasters indicated fog would linger across large areas of England and Wales, especially across southern areas, but conditions are expected to improve later on Saturday.
The two London airports are respectively the busiest two-runway and single-runway airports in the world, and depend on being able to run at full capacity in order to keep their intense schedules on track.
“Flight from Salzburg yesterday cancelled,” reported Chris Morris on X. “Rebooked flight already delayed three hours. Two young unhappy kids!”
His family was among an estimated 20,000 British Airways passengers whose flights have been grounded over the past two days at Heathrow, Gatwick and London City.
The worst-affected airport on Friday was Gatwick, where 48 departures and arrivals were grounded – half of them on easyJet.
Kiera Quayle, from Colchester in Essex, was due to fly from Isle of Man Airport to London Gatwick on Friday evening with her husband after visiting his family, but their flight was delayed by three hours before being cancelled entirely at around 10pm, with their next available journey on Sunday.
“Our five days have turned to seven, it looks like,” Ms Quayle said.
“It’s frustrating and stressful but I overheard a few families who are now missing holidays and work who have it worse at this point.”
Upwards of 40 flights were axed at each of London City and London Heathrow, where BA made most of the cancellations.
Manchester Airport had 22 cancellations, including six departures and arrivals serving Amsterdam on KLM.
Many flights were diverted on Friday, with the highest number at Teesside Airport in the northeast of England. Of the six scheduled arrivals on Friday, two landed with delays, two were diverted to Newcastle and one went to Aberdeen. The final flight of the day, a Ryanair flight from Alicante in Spain, circled in the hope of landing before being diverted to Dublin.
At London Heathrow, a Qatar Airways Airbus A350 diverted to Paris CDG. It eventually continued to its intended destination, arriving over three hours behind schedule, with the return leg to Doha consequently delayed by several hours – meaning missed connections for many passengers.
Severe disruption continued into Saturday, with disappointed planespotters on the terrace of the Thistle Hotel beside the northern runway at Heathrow Airport noting most aircraft had disappeared into low cloud within seconds of taking off. But passengers who were kept on the ground endured far more frustration.
EasyJet said in a statement: “Adverse weather conditions have meant that Air Traffic Control has had to limit the number of aircraft that can arrive and depart, which has sadly led to delays and cancellations today.
“The safety of you and our crew is our highest priority and we thank you for your patience.”
Many passengers have suffered long delays, often boarding the plane only to wait two or three hours for permission to depart. The most extreme case was Turkish Airlines from Istanbul, which was nine hours late when it touched down at 6.34am on Saturday.
Passengers on Etihad from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi departed seven hours late, at 4pm on Saturday, with many subsequently missing connections at the UAE hub.
Under air passengers’ rights rules, the cancelling airline must provide an alternative flight on any carrier as soon as possible – though bookings are extremely heavy, with few empty seats available.
Passengers on cancelled services are supposed to be given meals and, if necessary, hotel rooms while they wait. But at times of severe disruption, the airlines may put the onus on passengers to find accommodation and claim back the cost.
The disruption at Heathrow was of a similar scale to last Sunday, when high winds caused a reduction in the number of aircraft that could be handled. More than 100 flights were grounded.
A British Airways spokesperson said: “We operate hundreds of flights every day without disruption, successfully getting tens of thousands of our customers to where they need to be. Like other airlines, we’ve had to make some small adjustments to our schedule today because of air traffic control restrictions across London airports due to adverse weather conditions.
“While the vast majority of our customers will be unaffected, we apologise for the inconvenience caused and our teams are working hard to help get their journeys back on track.”