Some respite from fog expected Saturday

Some respite from fog expected Saturday

The chaos at major U.K. airports, including the Heathrow international airport, continued through Friday as several passengers remained stranded at the airport still uncertain whether they will be able to make it to their destinations before the Christmas. The thick veil of fog persisted affecting normal flight operations.

LONDON: The chaos at major U.K. airports, including the Heathrow international airport, continued through Friday as several passengers remained stranded at the airport still uncertain whether they will be able to make it to their destinations before the Christmas. The thick veil of fog persisted affecting normal flight operations.

Heathrow was the worst affected. More than 350 flights were cancelled Friday. The situation is expected to improve Saturday and the airlines are planning to fly nearly 95 per cent of the stranded passengers to their destinations. Even British Airways, the worst affected, said it will resume most of its short-haul flights.

The Meteorological Office said the fog will clear with dry air sweeping from the south. It, however, said in some parts of the country, the fog will continue until Monday.

British Airways said it will operate extra flights with larger aircraft to clear the stranded passengers. The airline cancelled some 46 morning flights Saturday but said it plans to resume services from midday and will operate all the domestic flights from and to Heathrow.

The airline is also offering options of rebooking, rerouting and refunds to passengers.

On Friday, it had had scrapped all its domestic flights leaving and arriving at Heathrow. It, however, maintained most of its long-haul flights.

The airline resorted to providing coaches to passengers to take them to destinations inside the country. It plans to continue the service Saturday. Train companies too provided extra services to help the stranded people to reach their destinations.

According to reports, some 70,000 people have been affected by the flight cancellations. The Heathrow airport resembled a refugee camp as several thousands of passengers could not get any accommodation in nearby hotels and decided to stay put at the airport.

Delays were reported from other airports, including London Gatwick and smaller airports like Norwich, Bristol, Cardiff and Southampton.