This weekend brought rain, sleet and snow to the UK, leaving airports and aircraft at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted covered in snow, while freezing fog affected visibility.
According to Simple Flying, the weather was so bad that snow ploughs had little or no effect on the blocked runways and the decision was made to close them and suspend all flights.
The airports advised passengers of potential flight delays and asked them to check with the airlines on the status of flights and the weather forecast before leaving for the airport. Following successful clearing, however, the runways were reopened and operations restarted.
Heathrow cancelled 50 flights, while Gatwick and Luton saw numerous flight delays and hundreds of cancellations.
Flights scheduled to land during the closures were diverted to other airports; Emirates EK009 from Dubai to Gatwick was diverted to Amsterdam Schiphol.
Upset passengers felt the airports should have been better prepared and frustrations arose due to an alleged lack of proper communication and overall management from airports and airlines. Thousands of travellers were stranded in the terminals, and others were kept on the aircraft at their departure airports for a few hours after being allowed to board but were then told they could not depart due to closed runways or suspended operations at their destination.
British Airways, however, is prepared for the icy weather. Last week it de-iced its first aircraft of the season at Heathrow when ice build-up was removed from an Airbus A320 heading to Warsaw. The ground crew de-iced the aircraft in five minutes while passengers waited on board.
