A plane takes off in foggy conditions from London Gatwick Airport (Picture: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)
Thick fog has stopped flights from taking off from Gatwick on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
Flights from Gatwick Airport have been delayed and cancelled over the last two days due to low visibility.
Thousands of passengers saw their journeys disrupted at one of the UK’s second-busiest airports.
EasyJet, Norwegian, Vueling, British Airways and TAP Air Portugal flights were listed among the cancelled, according to Flightradar24.
Tens of thousands of passengers saw their journeys disrupted at one of the UK’s busiest airports (Picture: Amer Ghazzal/Shutterstock)
Kiera Quayle told Sky News she was stuck on the Isle of Man after visiting her husband’s family for Christmas.
Her Easyjet flight was delayed and then eventually cancelled on Friday night.
Their new flight is not scheduled to depart until 5pm today.
She said: ‘We’re lucky that we have family we can stay with, but it has been difficult organising travel and where we are staying.
‘Luckily for us our neighbour has agreed to look after our cat for a few extra days, and we can swallow the extra car park charge at Gatwick.’
What to do if your flight has been affected
As a first step, passengers should contact their airlines for the latest information and check your airline’s flight tracker.
There are limits to when passengers of delayed flights are entitled to assistance.
Here is a breakdown of how much a flight must be delayed before you’re entitled to assistance.
- For flights under 932 miles (1,500km), such as from Glasgow to Amsterdam, the length of time is at least two hours
- For flights ranging from 932 miles (1,500km) to 2,175 miles (3,500km) – such as from Manchester to Marrakesh – the time limit is at least three hours delay
- For long-haul flights of more than 2,175 miles (3,500km) – such as Heathrow to New York – the delay has to be at least four hours before your right to assistance kicks in
Assistance typically includes some food and drink, often provided as a voucher, a means for you to communicate, and accommodation and transfers if an overnight stay is required.
The disruption at Gatwick is expected to continue until the end of today after Nats, the main air traffic control provider in the UK, put temporary air restrictions in place.
This is because of low visibility in airfields hit by fog, set to be reduced to just 100 metres in some area, according to the Met Office.
Heathrow, Stansted and Luton Airports are said to be unaffected by the weather over the weekend.
The Met Office has said the weather will brighten from today, but snow and rain are expected towards New Year’s Eve.
The forecasters has also issued a yellow weather warning for snow and rain in Scotland next week, and has warned heavy downpours will being ‘significant disruption’.
A yellow weather warning has been issued for Monday across northern England, with gusts of up 60mph.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
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