Hundreds of passengers were hit by flight delays and cancellations from London airports today after Gatwick, Stansted and London City airport were shrouded in mist.
Gatwick appeared to be the worst hit airport with many departures experiencing long delays, some of up to two hours or more.
All morning flights from London City were hit with delays of up to an hour with some even longer, while at least 21 out of 136 flights were cancelled, including services to Amsterdam, Milan and Zurich. Services were not expected to return to normal before late morning at the earliest.
A London City spokesman said: “Visibility has improved so flight restrictions have been lifted but there may be knock on effects to passengers due to earlier inbound diversions. The best advice for passengers travelling today is to double check their flight status with their airline before they travel.
Passengers travelling from Stansted were also delays by up to an hour or more due to the heavy fog, although as spokesman for the airport described the delays as ‘minor’.
He added: There have only been minor delays to departures during first wave this morning, and we’ve taken a divert in as well.
“In low visibility NATS [air traffic control] can slow down the movement of aircraft on the ground as they taxi on the airfield but we are a Cat 3 airport so can operate in all visibilities.”
