At least 120 flights diverted
It’s going to be a chaotic day for some travellers with flight tracking website Flightradar24 saying that at least 120 flights in the air bound for Heathrow will have to divert due to the airport closure.
Scores of flights are already being diverted to other airports, with Qantas Airways sending its flight from Perth to Paris and a United Airlines New York flight heading to Shannon, Ireland. Some flights from the US were turning around mid-air and returning to their point of departure.
A United Airlines flight from San Francisco was due to land in Washington, D.C. rather than London. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic diverted flights to nearby Gatwick.
Heathrow is one of the busiest two-runway airports in the world with about 1,300 combined take-offs and landings a day, according to its website.
“Heathrow is one of the major hubs of the world,” said Ian Petchenik, spokesman for FlightRadar24. “This is going to disrupt airlines’ operations around the world.”
Key events
Travel experts say the disruption will extend far beyond Heathrow
Airlines’ carefully choreographed networks depend on airplanes and crews being in specific locations at specific times. Dozens of air carriers will have to hurriedly reconfigure their networks to move planes and crews around after the Heathrow closure.
“The other question is, ‘What will airlines do to deal with the backlog of passengers?’”, said travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt with Atmosphere Research Group. “It’s going to be a chaotic couple of days.”
