Thousands of passengers faced delays at Heathrow yesterday because of freak weather over the Atlantic. Domestic and international flights faced lengthy delays throughout the day after winds of up to 200mph and a lack of a tailwind - or jet stream - across the Atlantic held up dozens of long-haul flights heading to Heathrow from the US.
Whilst the international flights were delayed by late arriving planes, a spokesman for National Air Traffic Service said they had no choice but to delay domestic and short-haul flights. He said: 'You can¡¯t tell these [long haul] flights to stop in midair, so we have had to delay some domestic and short-haul services. The wind speed has reached 200mph at the cruising height of some of these flights, so they have been arriving very late.¡¯
Just one out of nearly 300 flights from all terminals departed on time from 07.15 to mid-morning.
Three-quarters of planes coming in from 08:00 to 14:00 were delayed. Forecasters warned the unusual weather is set to continue into Monday, threatening misery for those flying this weekend. |
