Heathrow: Fog wrecks airline schedules at Europe’s busiest airport as hundreds of flights are delayed or cancelled

'Due to foggy conditions across the UK and Europe, passengers may experience some disruption to their journey'

(Reuters)

From Aberdeen to Zurich, travellers are beginning the working week facing delays, cancellation and frustration as fog wrecks airline schedules at Europe’s busiest airport: Heathrow.

British Airways has cancelled at least 20 flights today to and from its main base, to destinations including Geneva, Madrid and Milan. BA has also axed more than a dozen arrivals and departures at London City airport. It has told passengers: Please do not come to the airport unless you have a confirmed booking on a flight that is operating.

By 5pm on 1 November, British Airways alone had cancelled 90 flights to and from Heathrow. The airline said: “We will re-book those who are affected onto alternative flights so they can continue their journeys as soon as possible.”

Hundreds of other flights on a wide range of airlines were heavily delayed, leaving planes, pilots and passengers out of position. The disruption comes at the start of what is expected to be the busiest November in aviation history for London’s airport system.

For much of the day, the normal “flow rate” of arrivals and departures at Heathrow was well below the level needed to keep schedules on track.

The airport warned travellers: “Due to foggy conditions across the UK and Europe, passengers may experience some disruption to their journey.” But this proved an understatement for many travellers hoping to fly out or make connections. Flights from Malta, Istanbul and Cork were among the most delayed, at five hours late, and thousands of transfer passengers missed their connections.

At Gatwick, Britain’s second-busiest airport, easyJet cancelled a number of flights - including three in a row to and from Amsterdam - blaming air-traffic control restrictions. One easyJet plane from Rome turned up 11 hours late.

Many other passengers arrived in the early hours of this morning rather than late on 1 November because of the poor weather.

Heathrow and Gatwick are respectively the busiest two-runway and single-runway airports in the world, with very little room for manoeuvre when things start going wrong. Both are experiencing their busiest-ever years.

Campaigners for an extra runway in South East England will use this latest disruption in support of additional infrastructure.

At London City, British Airways cancelled 30 arrivals and departures on 1 November, and more disruption is expected on 2 November at the Docklands airport.