Airliners-India

karatecatman · Guest

www.uniindia.com
Thousands face holiday travel delays as fog engulfs Heathrow
LONDON, Dec 21, 2006 (UNI)
Tens of thousands of air passengers faced delays and cancellations on Thursday as thick fog continued to envelop London’s Heathrow airport at the start of the busy holiday travel season.
British Airways has led the way, cancelling all its domestic flights in and out of the world’s busiest international passenger airport on Thursday, and scrapping several of its European services.
‘‘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.
‘‘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.
Long-haul and European flights operated by BA and other airlines were expected to face significant delays. The airline said that the fog is likely to remain over southeast England through Friday.
On Wednesday, the fog forced the cancellation of nearly of one-fifth of the flights out of Heathrow, mostly domestic, while long-haul and European flights experienced delays as the number of flight slots was cut due to the poor visibility.
The delays and cancellations came as an estimated three million Britons are due to travel abroad between Friday and January 2, according to the Association of British Travel Agents.
But the holiday travel season was already underway, with Heathrow expected to have to deal with more than 190,000 passengers on Thursday, 30,000 more than what it would deal with on a normal day, according to the Daily Mail.
Among those affected was Francesca Benedetti, 55, who was due to fly to Scotland from Heathrow, according to the Daily Mail.
‘‘I have no other way of getting there ... It has already cost me 25 pounds (37 euros, 49 dollars) in taxi fares to get here and a train would cost me at least 70 pounds and be a complete hassle -- all because of our British weather,’’ she was quoted as saying in the newspaper.
The chaos at Heathrow comes about four months after British, and European, air travel was thrown into mayhem after an alleged plot to blow up US-bound passenger jets was foiled, leading to tightened security at airports worldwide.
Security also served to dampen the holiday cheer on this occasion, as airports operator BAA, which runs both Heathrow and Gatwick, among others, requested passengers check in their Christmas presents or face having to unwrap them because of a ban on wrapped packages in cabin baggage, The Guardian said.
Customers were advised to check with their airline before travelling.
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.

Happens elsewhere too. If this was India, there would have been no end to criticism.

AKLDELNonstop · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1066 Location: Auckland

Saw this on BBC this morning, LHR looked absolutely deserted, they said BA cancelled all domestic flights for today and flights to Brussels and Paris
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Nimish · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 2:55 pm Post subject:

So what's the scoop here? Isn't BA and LHR equipped to operate during fog (the way DEL/IC are supposed to be)?

the_380 · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:11 pm Post subject:

AKLDELNonstop · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1066 Location: Auckland

the_380 · Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:20 pm Post subject:

karatecatman · Guest

Its mainly the domestic flights that have been badly hit. Next in line are the flights to the Mediterranean.

the_380 · Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 2:29 pm Post subject:

AKLDELNonstop · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1066 Location: Auckland

the_380 · Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 7:52 pm Post subject:

AKLDELNonstop · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1066 Location: Auckland

the_380 · Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 1:05 pm Post subject:

AKLDELNonstop · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1066 Location: Auckland

Aiel · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 927 Location: Bangalore

BA resumes UK flights at Heathrow

British Airways domestic flights have resumed at Heathrow after being cancelled since Wednesday due to fog.
The first flight to take off following the suspension left at 1322 GMT, bound for Newcastle.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6205993.stm
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