A Thai Airways Boeing takes off in the fog at Heathrow Airport today (Picture: James Manning/PA Wire)
Thick fog continues to cause travel chaos as dozens of flights are cancelled and hundreds delayed across the UK.
Heathrow, Gatwick, London City, Manchester and Glasgow are just some of the airports affected by the lingering fog, which began a couple of days ago.
Heathrow saw 408 flights delayed and 24 cancelled yesterday, and 176 delayed and 18 cancelled so far today, according to tracker Flight Aware.
At Gatwick, 272 flights were delayed and 30 cancelled yesterday, while 217 have been delayed today and 13 cancelled today.
London City saw 29 delayed and 14 cancelled yesterday and eight delayed and four cancelled so far today.
A spokesperson for Gatwick said: ‘Temporary air traffic restrictions have been put in place due to fog causing poor visibility.
‘Some flights may be delayed throughout the day.
‘London Gatwick apologises for any inconvenience. Passengers should contact their airline for further information.’
Passengers at Manchester Airport waiting for their flights after delays and cancellations (Picture: Tse Chun Ming/SOPA Images/Shutterstock)
Nats, the UK’s main air traffic control provider, said temporary air restrictions would remain in place on Saturday in areas with low visibility.
A spokesperson added: ‘Restrictions of this sort are only ever applied to maintain safety.
‘We continue to monitor the situation and have a Met Office expert embedded within our operation to ensure we have the latest available information.’
Among those affected by cancellations were a couple who have been forced to prolong their Christmas visit to family on the Isle of Man by two days.
Kiera Quayle, from Colchester, Essex, was due to fly from Isle of Man Airport to London Gatwick on Friday evening with her husband after visiting his family but their flight was delayed by three hours before being cancelled entirely at around 10pm, with their next available journey on Sunday.
‘Our five days has turned to seven, it looks like,’ Ms Quayle, 30, said.
Thick fog envelops Birmingham International Airport (Picture: LT1Media)
‘It’s frustrating and stressful but I overheard a few families who are now missing holidays and work who have it worse at this point.’
Passengers on flights delayed for more than two hours may be entitled to assistance, including food and drink or overnight accommodation if necessary, Jo Rhodes, travel expert from consumer website Which? said.
‘If your flight is cancelled, you also have the choice of being refunded or rerouted on the next available flight.
‘If you choose the latter, then your airline must get you to your destination as soon as possible – including with a rival carrier, if necessary.
‘Airlines can sometimes be reluctant to buy you a ticket with their competitors, so don’t be afraid to remind them of this rule if another flight could get you where you need to go quicker than they can.’
The Met Office advised travellers to allow ‘a little bit longer’ for journeys and warned drivers to leave extra braking distances in areas with poor visibility.
Senior forecaster Craig Snell said the situation should improve on Saturday night.
A jogger runs past the Port of Liverpool building during heavy fog yesterday (Picture: EPA/Adam Vaughan)
A double-decker red bus drives across Westminster Bridge during foggy weather in London (Picture: Reuters/Isabel Infantes)
‘Tonight, we should start to see a little bit more in the way of breeze developing, so that should start to disperse some of the poorer visibilities across the rest of the UK,” he said.
‘So we might start to see some of the fog and low cloud begin to lift as the night goes on, but generally with plenty of cloud around we’re not really expecting any issues with frost or anything like that.”
On Sunday, south-east England could have a ‘dull start’ which is expected to brighten with highs of 12C predicted, he added.
Towards New Year’s Eve, the forecast is looking ‘unsettled’ with blustery and wet conditions hitting the north of the UK and ‘less expansive’ rain in the south.
The Met Office has put a yellow weather warning in place for much of Scotland on Monday and Tuesday, with heavy rain forecast.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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