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| Britain |
| Heathrow, Gatwick, etc, back in operation |
| 2006-08-10 |
| LONDON - The operator of key British airports said it had received the green light on Thursday to resume shorthaul flights to and from London’s Heathrow airport after a security alert over a foiled bomb plot. The British Airports Authority (BAA), which runs Heathrow and six other airports, said the restriction imposed in the morning was lifted in the afternoon by Britain’s National Air Traffic Services. “The restriction that was in place has been lifted,” a BAA spokeswoman said. However, British Airways earlier cancelled all its remaining short-haul flights due Thursday between Heathrow and other British and European cities, as well as the Libyan capital Tripoli. The decision was taken because of severe congestion due to heightened security measures, BAA said. No-frills airline easyJet cancelled all its remaining flights due to depart Thursday from three airports bordering London, comprising Gatwick, Luton and Stansted. In total, 302 arrival flights and 309 departures were cancelled at Heathrow as of 16:00pm local time (1500 GMT), the BAA spokeswoman added. In an average day, Heathrow has a total of 1,250 flights, inbound and outbound, longhaul and shorthaul, according to BAA statistics. Some 190,000 passengers land or take off from Heathrow each day. British Airways said in a statement that it expected to operate around 60 percent of its scheduled 400 shorthaul and domestic flights to and from Heathrow on Friday. It said it had cancelled around 400 flights, mainly domestic and shorthaul, from both Heathrow and London Gatwick on Thursday. It flies about 820 flights out of these two airports on a typical August day. BAA said there were also cancellations and delays at Gatwick Airport, Stansted Airport, Glasgow Airport, Edinburgh Airport and Aberdeen Airport. There were delays also at Southampton Airport, but no cancellations. The spokeswoman added that there were no restrictions on longhaul flights, although passengers should be prepared for long delays. BA said it expected to operate around 75 percent of its scheduled 150 longhaul flights to and from Heathrow on Friday, meaning that all countries except the United States will be served. It expected to operate around 80 percent of its scheduled 210 shorthaul and domestic flights to and from Gatwick on Friday. |
| Posted by:Steve White |