Snow Causes Cancelation Of 100 Flights At Heathrow Airport

Heathrow Airport authorities have been forced to cut down flight schedule by 20 per cent as the UK transport network continues to struggle with freezing weather conditions.
The Western Europe correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who was at terminals 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the airport on Sunday, reports that a lot of passengers were stranded there.
Terminal 5, which has daily flights to Lagos and Abuja, was operating normally with teams on ground to clear the snow.
The airport authorities said the number of flights scheduled for Sunday had been reduced by at least “a fifth’’ after forecasters predicted another 2-6cm of snow and low visibility in the area.
More than 100 flights scheduled for take-off on Saturday were also cancelled.
NAN reports that travelers complained about having to spend up to two hour on check-in queues as airport staff members battled to clear a backlog caused by 400 cancellations on Friday.
Of the 104 flights that were cancelled on Saturday, 100 were with British Airways (BA).
A BBC report quoted BA as saying that it had to cancel 20 per cent of its scheduled flights to “keep the airport running smoothly” and that it would try to give customers “as much notice as possible”.
NAN reports that passengers are being urged to check with their airlines before travelling to the airport as weather conditions at other European airports could further decimate schedules.
The Met Office issued cold-weather alerts last week for the whole of the UK, urging people to ensure that the vulnerable and elderly are kept warm and safe.
The big freeze, sweeping in from Russia, is set to last about three weeks, with up to four inches of snow, the Met office said. (NAN)