UK:TRAVEL CHAOS at the biggest airports around London began to ease yesterday, following a significant thaw, though airlines were struggling to cope with tens of thousands of previously delayed passengers struggling to get home for Christmas Day.
Last night, Heathrow airport was handling two-thirds of its usual traffic, though nearly all flights from Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick suffered major delays.
Following days of complaints about Heathrow’s performance, and with some calling for his resignation, the chief executive of the Spanish-owned British Airports Authority Colin Matthews announced he would not take his bonus for the year.
Last year he received almost £1 million in pay and bonuses.
London’s mayor, Boris Johnson, said BAA had “serious lessons” to learn from the experience since Saturday, which has affected hundreds of thousands of passengers: “I have been going on about this now for two, three, four days and I think honestly people have been wondering why it took so long to get planes going after the last snow flake fell on Heathrow.”
Heathrow, which made £500 million for its owners this year, has spent just £500,000 on new equipment to cope with snow in recent months, compared with Gatwick’s decision to spend £8 million. Luton, Liverpool and Manchester airports operated normally, while East Midlands, despite heavy snow, managed to get all of its flights off, bar one to Dublin – and that was because of poor weather at the destination.
All airlines continued to urge passengers to check before leaving home to see if their flight was on schedule, with the British Association of Travel Agents warning that delays and cancellations are still likely because so many aircraft are out of position.
However, British Airways said it hoped to be able to operate all of its long-haul flights from Heathrow today and on Christmas Eve.
A widespread thaw is unlikely until St Stephen’s Day.