TORONTO – Air Canada has been given the go-ahead to resume flights to London’s Heathrow Airport, the carrier announced late Tuesday afternoon.
The effects of snow and freezing temperatures in Europe stranded thousands of air travellers at Europe’s busiest airport and forced Air Canada to warn that its operations to and from London, would continue to be limited for the next few days.
But late Tuesday, the airline issued a statement saying it had "been given permission to reinstate its full schedule of nine flights a day to London Heathrow following several days of sharp restrictions imposed on carriers by the airport. We are now focused on restoring our full operation and moving the backlog of passengers created by the forced cancellations of our flights."
The carrier said Heathrow officials had given the green light for flight resumption beginning Tuesday evening and that passengers are urged to consult the company website (www.aircanada.com) for flight schedule updates before travelling or going to the airport.
"We are going to do our absolute best to move our customers as quickly as possible but unfortunately, due to capacity restrictions at Heathrow and the fact our aircraft were already heavily booked prior to the holiday season, it may still take more than a week to move all passengers," the company said in the statement.
It also said due to increased call centre volume, wait times would be longer than usual.
As well, due to the high number of cancelled flights out of Heathrow, Air Canada is unable to check passengers and baggage with connecting flights in London on other airlines through to their final destination.
Earlier Tuesday, the carrier said that restrictions imposed at Heathrow Airport will mean it will only be able to operate one-third of its normal flights, resulting in cancellations and delays for thousands of passengers trying to get home for the holidays.
Northern Europe’s big freeze wreaked more havoc Tuesday as some airports failed to cope with the snow.
More planes got off the ground than on Monday, but for thousands of travellers hoping to get home or away for Christmas, delays and cancellations were widespread.
Eurocontrol, which oversees air traffic control across 38 countries, said it expected more services to operate after about 3,000 flights across Europe were cancelled on Monday.
London Mayor Boris Johnson called for a "Herculean effort" by Heathrow operator BAA and its contractors to get planes back in the air.
The cold weather in Europe is also affecting airports on the mainland.
More than 1,000 flights at Germany’s main airports were cancelled and many more delayed after up to 40-centimetres of fresh snow blanketed the country on Monday.
Another snowstorm delayed flights and cargo operations at Paris’s two main airports, Charles de Gaulle and Orly.
The cold weather in Europe is also affecting airports on the mainland.
More than 1,000 flights at Germany’s main airports were cancelled and many more delayed after up to 40-centimetres of fresh snow blanketed the country on Monday.
Another snowstorm delayed flights and cargo operations at Paris’s two main airports, Charles de Gaulle and Orly.
Eurocontrol, the umbrella group for air-traffic control across 38 countries, estimates more than 3,000 flights across Europe flights were cancelled on Monday.
"We have today seen reductions up to 65 per cent for major airports like Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, London and Berlin Tegel," said Ken Thomas, operations manager at Eurocontrol. "Many of the delays we are seeing now in Europe is because of the de-icing situation."
British Airways said Heathrow airport would only be using one of its two runways on Tuesday – as on Monday – meaning the airport would be operating at a significantly reduced capacity.
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