Fog cancels all UK flights for 2 days

[Martin]

No end in sight for holiday travel misery | News | This is London

Chaos as BA cancels all UK flights for two days
20.12.06

The fog which blanketed Heathrow has grounded nearly half of British Airways short-haul flights

Passengers are facing another day of chaos after British Airways cancelled all domestic flights from Heathrow tomorrow because of thick fog.

The airline also said some European services would be grounded. Today thousands were stranded at Heathrow after 350 domestic and shorthaul flights were cancelled.

Forecasters predicted the fog will get worse and could stay for the next 48 hours at least. At the peak time tomorrow 194,000 travellers, 30,000 more than on a normal day, are set to pass through Heathrow.

Mark Bullock, managing director of BAA Heathrow, said cancellations "would need to continue as long as the weather conditions prevail". He admitted that if the fog did not lift some people would not get a flight before Christmas.

Problems at Heathrow were made worse when the landing lights along the edges of one of the main runways failed. This halted flights until power was restored.

British Airways and other airlines including Alitalia and Lufthansa said they were cancelling a total of 350 flights today. Yesterday, 223 flights were cancelled.

Hundreds of passengers were forced to spend the night in the airport. Weary travellers told of their anger at the lack of information but BA said it was doing all it could. The company handed out 5,000 blankets last night for those stranded and booked 3,000 hotel rooms for others.

Queues snaked around Terminal 1 and the check-in desks today. Although the situation eased slightly by noon it was expected to get worse again as night falls and the fog freezes.

BA said it had cancelled its short-haul flights after Heathrow's air traffic controllers halved the number of take-offs and landings from 45 an hour to 22 to allow a greater safety margin.

BA said it had decided to give the reduced number of take-off slots to its long-haul departures because those passengers had no alternative way of getting to their destinations. A spokesman said it was a "tough decision" but insisted it was not motivated by profit.

A total of 16 domestic flights were cancelled at Gatwick today although Stansted was said to operating normally.

BA sent extra staff into the packed Heathrow terminals to help passengers rebook flights. The company also hired coaches to take a further 3,000 passengers to Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Newcastle.

A spokeswoman said: "We are also using larger aircraft where possible to get as many people away as possible. We are very concerned that passengers are trying to get away and realise this is a very important time for them." Staff also distributed food to those stranded including Christmas-pudding shaped chocolates.

Rita Marvin, 47, her husband Rod, 44, and their 18-year-old daughter Joanne, had flown in from Dublin to go on to LA.

Mrs Marvin said: "It was madness when we got here and no one was telling us what was going on. We have been here for hours already and it looks like we're going to be here a lot longer." Mr Marvin added: "We have no idea where our bags are and neither do they. It is a shambles."

India Burgess, 25, flew in from Manchester to meet her boyfriend but his Athens flight was cancelled. She said: "I hope he will arrive soon, but I have nowhere to stay and could be here for days."