Flights to London resume as Heathrow airport opens partially

Most of the London-bound flights from the country resumed today as the Heathrow airport partially opened for operations after being hit by heavy snow for the past two days.

Barring a Kingfisher Airline flight from Delhi (IT-001), all other flights of Air India, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Jet Airways operated according to the revised schedule.

Kingfisher's flight from Mumbai (IT 007) left for London around 3 pm, while Jet's flight (9W 120) had a scheduled departure at 6:30pm.

The airline has planned to operate its London-Delhi flight (IT 002) from Heathrow subject to availability of de-icing fluid at Brussels airport as its local supplies had been exhausted and fresh supplies were expected to take quite a while. Also availability of arrival slot clearance from Heathrow for the arriving aircraft, an airline spokesperson said.

From Delhi, Air India, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Jet Airways operated their flights but on a revised schedule.

Flights to and from London have been affected for the past two days due to inclement weather condition in the UK.

London's Heathrow has been the worst-hit airport with two-thirds of flights being cancelled until Wednesday while other UK airports, including Gatwick, have also been badly affected due to snow. Gatwick airport reopened at 0600 GMT after remaining close overnight. One of the Heathrow's runway was closed yesterday.

Passengers have been warned to expect more delays and cancellations, possibly up to Christmas Day.

In Germany, over 300 flights were cancelled at Frankfurt yesterday after overnight snow, while operations at Paris' two main airports - Charles de Gaulle and Orly - also remained affected after weekend cancellations.

Yesterday all flights to London from the country were cancelled as the Heathrow airport remained closed.

The airlines have asked the passengers to be in touch with their call centres or the travel agents. They are also allowing the passengers to cancel and rebook their ticket without extra charges.

Some of the passengers who have to travel in urgency to London are taking flights to Paris or other nearby destinations in order to reach London at the earliest.