Airport delays live: Gatwick and Heathrow cancel or delay dozens of flights as fog causes travel chaos
Nats, the UK’s main air traffic control provider, said temporary air restrictions would remain in place until Sunday in areas with low visibility
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Your support makes all the difference.Disruption has ensued at some of the UK’s busiest airports after thick fog blanketed the country.
Flights at Stansted Airport have been affected by the weather conditions, while live departure boards showed delays at Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Manchester airports.
On Saturday, 19 flights at Heathrow were cancelled with another 455 delayed, while at Gatwick, 320 were delayed and 16 cancelled.
Although the fog is likely to dissipate on Sunday, disruption is set to continue with Nats, the UK’s main air traffic control provider, keeping temporary air restrictions in place in areas with low visibility.
A Nats spokesperson said: “Restrictions of this sort are only ever applied to maintain safety.
“We continue to monitor the situation and have a Met Office expert embedded within our operation to ensure we have the latest available information.”
Sunday is expected to be Gatwick’s busiest day during the holiday period, with 769 flights planned.
Apologising for inconvenience, a spokesperson for Gatwick Airport added: “Temporary air traffic restrictions have been put in place due to fog causing poor visibility.”
Map shows UK shrouded in mist
The fog will linger long into the afternoon in the South East, the Met Office has warned in its latest update.
Foggy night at Gatwick leaves passengers delayed - some for 9 hours
Passengers to and from London Gatwick airport experienced severe disruption overnight.
Forty-eight flights to and from the Sussex airport were grounded on Friday, half of them on easyJet.
Gatwick is the busiest single-runway airport in the world, and as such is susceptible to disruption.
Many passengers endured long delays as the evening wore on, many flights were around three hours late. The most extreme case was Turkish Airlines from Istanbul, which was nine hours late when it touched down at 6.34am on Saturday.
EasyJet passengers from Nantes arrived at Gatwick five hours behind schedule, at 2.30am. Another easyJet flight, 8556 from Antalya, left the Turkish airport two-and-a-half hours late and diverted to Bari. It is not known what caused the diversion.
A Tui arrival from Sharm el Sheikh ended up in Birmingham.
On Saturday, easyJet cancelled the morning trip from Gatwick to Belfast City and back and an evening flight to Geneva, while Vueling did the same with Barcelona and Valencia rotations.
British Airways cancelled five round-trips from Gatwick on Saturday, which were scheduled for Algiers, Faro, Innsbruck, Malaga and Salzburg.
Snow warning across Scotland issued
The Met Office has upgraded a yellow snow and rain warning.
The forecaster says on Monday in the North and east of Perthshire, precipitation is likely to fall as snow, especially over high ground, with 10-20cm accumulating above 150-200 meters.
As milder air pushes in, snow will turn back to rain, and any rapid snow melt will contribute to flooding in places.
British Airways grounds dozens of Saturday flights
British Airways began the day with 18 cancellations to and from London Heathrow, but that number has sharply increased.
The Independent has now identified 40 grounded flights, including departures to Vienna, Oslo, Barcelona, Rome and Geneva.
Single domestic links to Edinburgh and Glasgow are also cancelled.
Air traffic controller posts thick fog rolling over Heathrow
An air traffic controller has shown how flights continued despite visible fog swirling over Heathrow in an amazing timelapse video taken this morning as the sun rose.
Widespread fog causing air traffic restrictions
At Manchester airport, 16 departures and 27 arrivals are being delayed due to thick fog between 10.30am and 1pm on Saturday.
National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said: “As widespread fog continues to affect some UK airports today, temporary air traffic restrictions remain in place at locations with low visibility.
“Restrictions of this sort are only ever applied to maintain safety... Our teams are working closely with the airports and airlines to minimise disruption.”
60mph winds expected as yellow warning issued
The Met Office has issued a yellow wind warning to go alongside two rain warnings early next week.
The forecaster says from 11am Monday westerly winds will be strong and gust at times. Gusts of 50-60mph are possible over high ground around northern England.
The Met Office also issued two yellow weather warnings for most of Scotland next week and said heavy rain could bring “significant disruption” in the build-up to Hogmanay.
Rain warnings are in place for much of Scotland on December 30 and 31 apart from Orkney and Shetland.
According to the forecaster, 50-70mm of rain is possible over the two days in many areas, while some places may see 100-140mm – with these higher totals most likely over western Scotland.
Some areas may also see snow, especially in northern Scotland and over high ground, while strong winds could bring further disruption, particularly on New Year’s Eve.
Christmas travel chaos as thick fog sparks mass delays and cancellations at UK’s busiest airports
Cancellations and delays at Heathrow ongoing
On Saturday, 20 flights at Heathrow have been cancelled so far with another 29 delayed.
Fog is expected to cause further disruption to flights at one of the UK’s busiest airports.
Thick fog patches could reduce visibility to just 100 metres in some areas across the country, the Met Office said.
In pictures: Fog smothers UK
The murky weather has shrouded much of the country over the past few days and shows little sign of abating yet.
A man takes an early morning run under the Angel of the North in Gateshead as another misty morning breaks over Durham Cathedral.
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