Northern Ireland

Flight cancellations threaten Christmas travel plans

There are fears the weather could disrupt travel plans over the Christmas break
There are fears the weather could disrupt travel plans over the Christmas break There are fears the weather could disrupt travel plans over the Christmas break

Flights from three London airports were hit by delays after fog shrouded the city on Thursday morning.

Festive travel plans faced being thrown into chaos after Heathrow, Gatwick and London City Airport all experienced a raft of hold-ups due to the weather.

A spokesman for Heathrow said some early-morning flights had been been pushed back and there could be knock-on delays throughout the day, but added that there have yet to be any cancellations.

British Airways said on its official Twitter feed that it was aware of fog affecting flights at all three London airports and advised passengers to check their flight status online.

A statement on BA's website said: "Fog across parts of southern England is affecting some flights to and from London's airports today.

"For safety reasons, Air Traffic Control has to allow greater space between landing aircraft in fog or during periods of low visibility, and this will mean a reduced number of aircraft being allowed to land each hour.

"We are sorry for the difficulties caused by the poor weather and will do all we can to minimise the effect it has on our operations."

A spokeswoman for Gatwick said "about five or six" flights were diverted to other airports on Wednesday night due to fog and maintenance work on a runway.

She said normal service had resumed by Thursday morning, and they were taking flights diverted from London City.

The fog disruption comes as Britain braced itself for the arrival of Storm Barbara, which is set to batter the country with strong winds.

Scotland is predicted to be the worst hit by the weather, with gusts of up to 90mph forecast in places.

Pockets of Northern Ireland, North Wales and the North of England are also due to feel the force of Barbara, which is due to roll in to the UK by Friday.

The worst of any destruction is expected between Friday evening and Christmas Eve morning, but the potential for structural damage and disruption to some transport services means the storm's impact could be felt long after the winds have subsided.

Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge said: "We are expecting gusts of around 80mph widespread within the amber warning area, up to 90mph in places.

"We have had the good fortune to be able to issue the weather warnings ahead of Storm Barbara coming, with plenty of time hopefully for people to change their plans if they need to.

"But the nature of the storm means it still has the potential to have an impact on power supplies, structures, and disrupt bridge and ferry crossings."

The UK Coastguard issued its own safety warnings ahead of the weekend.

Coastal operations area commander Ross Greenhill said: "We always advise people to check the weather and tidal conditions before they set out so that they can either prepare accordingly or consider whether they should even be going out at all.

"At sea, changes in tidal streams can make conditions worse, particularly if the wind and tide are against each other and tidal heights may hide underwater hazards."

Storm Barbara has been named in line with the Met Office's alphabetical policy for the strongest weather systems and is only the second name designated this season, which began on October 1, after Storm Angus.

One flight due to arrive at Gatwick at 11.20pm on Wednesday was diverted to Birmingham Airport because of the fog.

Mark Culverhouse, who was travelling with a group of 17 friends and family from Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, said the flight landed at around 1am before they were taken by coach to Gatwick and arrived just before 5am. He finally got home at around 7am - six hours later than anticipated.

Mr Culverhouse (46) from Liphook, Hampshire, said: "The captain announced over the speaker that main runway was shut for construction and the support runway was not suitable because of the weather.

"It stressed us all out a bit as we were not sure what was happening until we landed.

"The captain then said they were going to refuel and retry for Gatwick as the weather had eased, so we sat on the plane for a bit, then he announced they could not get fuel so we would have to leave the plane and transportation to Gatwick would be arranged.

"We were a bit annoyed as we should have been home around 1am. We are feeling very tired for work today."