Heathrow faces further disruption today after BA crash landing

Flights to and from Heathrow continue to face cancellations and delays after a British Airways aircraft crash landed yesterday short of one of the airport’s two runways.

The Boeing 777 with 136 passengers on board was en-route from Beijing when it landed short of the runway.

Passengers escaped down emergency slides with only minor injuries to three people.

Emergency services rushed to the scene in what was described as a major incident.

Heathrow was shut for about 30 minutes. Flights were moved to use the airport’s northern runway to take off and land until 14.30 when the southern runway re-opened for departing aircraft only.

More than 220 mainly short haul flights out of a normal flying schedule of 1,300 were cancelled. Twenty four aircraft were diverted to other airports.

Heathrow owner BAA said it was doing everything possible to minimise disruption to passengers.

But those planning to fly from Heathrow today (Friday) were advised to contact their airline regarding the status of their flight, BAA said.

The airport operator said staff had been working through the night to ensure that today “runs as smoothly as possible”.

Fifty three mainly short haul flights have been cancelled today so far, according to a BAA statement at 09.00 this morning.

“At this stage, we are working hard to restore near normal operations. However, it is extremely important that passengers due to fly from Heathrow today contact their airline regarding the status of their flight,” BAA said.

Additional staff are on hand at the terminals to assist passengers, the company added.

BA said it planned to operate all its long haul departures from the airport and “up to 90%” of short haul flights. But a number of flights into Heathrow will be cancelled throughout today.

The carrier “strongly advised” passengers to check www.ba.com before leaving home for the latest flight information.

“Due to the disruption on Thursday, a number of aircraft, pilots and cabin crew are out of position and this is having a knock-on effect on some short haul services on Friday,” the airline said. “Any customers on cancelled flights are urged not to come to the airport as this will cause additional congestion.”

An eyewitness account said the BA aircraft took the runway too low on its approach, it crashed and skidded sideways, the BBC reported. Some reports suggested both of the 777’s engines failed.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said: “I would like to pay tribute to the 16 crew of the BA038 led by Captain Peter Burkill. The flight crew showed great courage and professionalism in landing the aircraft safely.

“All of the crew did a fantastic job evacuating the 136 passengers. They are all heroes and everyone at British Airways is very proud of them.”

An investigation is being conducted by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch and the BA chief said it would be “inappropriate to speculate” about the likely cause of the crash landing.

There were three flight crew and 13 cabin staff on board the 777.

BA set up a helpline at 0800 389 4193.

by Phil Davies

Related News Stories: