Return to normal at Stansted expected

Travellers using Stansted Airport can expect normal service to resume today, according to the State's two main airlines. The airport authority at Stansted was also hopeful last night that schedules would be back to normal today.

More than 150 flights have been disrupted at Stansted since Wednesday evening, when a Korean Air Boeing 747 cargo jet crashed half a mile from the runway. The airport was closed for more than 16 hours and at one stage yesterday 6,000 passengers were waiting to depart.

Ryanair flights scheduled to leave Stansted after 6.40 p.m. on Wednesday did not get away until after 11.30 a.m. yesterday.

A Ryanair spokeswoman said at 7 p.m. yesterday that delays had been cut from six hours to three over the course of the day. She said Ryanair had leased six extra aircraft and that all its spare aircraft were used.

However, Ryanair passengers waiting at the airport felt they had not been given adequate information. Ms Julie Donnelly, from Romford in Essex, said yesterday afternoon: "Ryanair have not given us a lot of information, really. They told us to check in as normal. My daughter has been up since four in the morning and has only been able to sleep for 10 minutes because it's so noisy here. It is a nightmare for everyone."

However Mr Tim Jeans, sales and marketing director for Ryanair in Britain, said the company had endeavoured to provide as much information as possible.

In a statement yesterday the airline said it wanted to "apologise sincerely for any inconvenience" suffered by its customers, whom it thanked for "patience and understanding".

A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus said yesterday afternoon that its flight schedule to and from Stansted was "back to normal" and it expected no problems today.