British Airways and easyjet are among the airlines with flights being cancelled, delayed or diverted
More than 600 flights at Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports have been cancelled or delayed for hours as travel restrictions are put in place due to thunderstorms. London and the South East were hit by thunderstorms early this morning (Saturday, June 27) which then passed over northern France and Europe.
The UK’s air traffic control service said delays were expected to continue for the rest of the day as a Met Office amber weather warning for extreme heat remains in place for London and the South East until 9am Sunday (June 28), with further thunderstorms possible.
At least 367 flights arriving at or departing from Heathrow have been delayed so far on Saturday, according to tracker FlightAware, and 352 in and out of Gatwick. Temporary air traffic control restrictions have been put in place in Gatwick, the airport told the BBC.
Gatwick said: “Due to ongoing thunderstorms across the network last night [Friday], temporary air traffic restrictions were put in place, which resulted in some flights being delayed and cancelled this morning.”
easyJet said it was doing its best to help passengers impacted by the delays and cancellations. A spokesperson said: “Due to thunderstorms in the south of the UK which is restricting the number of arrivals and departures today, like other airlines we are experiencing some disruption to our flying programme and have had to pre-emptively cancel some flights to and from Gatwick in advance.
“We are doing all possible to minimise the impact of the weather disruption for our customers and are notifying passengers in advance with their options to rebook or receive a refund as well as hotel accommodation and meals where required.”
Delays to affected flights vary, but Gatwick’s live departure board shows an easyjet flight to Antalya delayed from 11:50am to 6pm on Saturday. Other flights have been delayed by four hours, with airlines including British Airways at Heathrow affected.
Flights at London City have also been cancelled, including a British Airways flight scheduled for Toulon-Hyeres Airport early this morning.
Eurocontrol shows the most severe air traffic control delays in airspace between south-east England and north-western Europe, where the storm clouds currently are. However, flights travelling on flight paths outside of the storm area are still leaving and arriving on time.
The latest Met Office update states: “Very hot and humid weather will continue to affect eastern and southeastern England but likely a few degrees cooler than the previous few days. Temperatures will still widely exceed 30 Celsius, peaking around 32 – 33 Celsius in London or East Anglia.
“Temperatures overnight Saturday into Sunday remain unlikely to fall below high teens Celsius for most, with a few places not dropping below 20 Celsius. This will again be accompanied by high humidity at first, but fresher conditions will steadily become established from the west during the latter part of the night.
“Another hot day is expected in the far east of the region on Sunday, but both temperatures and humidity lower than recent days with a much lower likelihood of further impacts.”
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