Fog disrupts flights at London's Heathrow Airport
By Suzie Decker,WNS London Correspondent
LONDON - Flights to London Heathrow Airport were to remain severely disrupted by fog on Thursday, with many domestic flights and short-haul flights scrapped and international services subject to delay. Due to expected severe fog, British Airways cancelled all its domestic flights in and out of the world's busiest international passenger airport for Thursday. Several of its European services were also scrapped. BA's long-haul flights were operating with a delay on Wednesday, while Lufthansa and Alitalia flights were the next worst affected as fog restricted the flight slots.
"British Airways has so far cancelled around 180 short-haul and domestic flights to and from London Heathrow on Thursday, out of a normal daily total of 400 short-haul flights," the flag carrier said in a statement. "The fog is likely to remain over southeast England for the next 48 hours and will also impact British Airways' operations at London Gatwick," BA warned. Air Traffic Control significantly reduced the number of flights that can land and take-off each hour at Heathrow for Thursday. "At this stage it is anticipated that the airport will only be able to manage around 50 percent of the normal landings and take-off rates," BA explained. Customers were advised to check with their airline before travelling. Wednesday's short-haul and European services from Heathrow suffered significant disruption. "There have been 223 cancellations out of the 1,300 flights we operate per day," a Heathrow spokesman told AFP, adding that the vast majority of the affected flights were domestic.
Eighteen short-haul flights were cancelled on Wednesday at London Gatwick, Britain's second biggest airport, while some flights in and out of Liverpool were scrapped and some Cardiff-bound planes were delayed or diverted to Bristol. The fog enveloping parts of Britain has also disrupted ferry services with Ireland and forced the postponement of Tuesday's League Cup quarter-final football match between Liverpool and Arsenal.
posted by wnsworld @ 5:41 PM
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