Travellers face further disruption at UK airports including Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester due to thick fog which is set to persist today says the Met Office
Brits hoping to head off on holiday ahead of New Year have been hit by travel chaos at the UK’s busiest airports due to dense fog.
Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester have had to cancel flights, with almost all scheduled departures having been delayed or cancelled due to the troubling weather.
Fog has caused disruption with airports extremely busy over the festive period. Almost every flight from Manchester airport was delayed throughout Friday, with the majority being held back by over two hours.
And today one person wrote on X: “Inside a plane in Malaga waiting for Gatwick to authorise our take off due to fog.” Another said: “Three hour delay at Gatwick due to fog. I won’t be planning again to go on holiday after Christmas, I arrived at my destination at 3am and hope to rest.”
A London Gatwick spokesperson told The Mirror: “Temporary air traffic restrictions have been put in place due to fog causing poor visibility. Some flights may be delayed throughout the day. London Gatwick apologises for any inconvenience. Passengers should contact their airline for further information.”
A spokesman at Manchester Airport said: “Air traffic controllers have kept a restriction in place this morning covering a number of UK airports including Manchester. At the moment though it’s not causing any disruption.” But a live departure board at Gatwick shows there is a long list of flights which are currently delayed which appears to be the worst of the major airports affected this morning although there are also many delays as well at Heathrow Airport.
Another person who endured traffic chaos at Gatwick said: “A 6 hour flight delay; 5.5 hours wait for a coach in Gatwick; a 5 hour coach journey home. Due into Cardiff at 11:00 am. What a way to end a holiday.” The murky weather has shrouded much of the country over the past few days and shows little sign of abating yet. In some areas, thick fog patches could reduce visibility down to just 100 metres overnight and into Saturday, the Met Office said.
The national weather service has not yet issued warnings for fog but said it will monitor the situation overnight. “It’s that time of year when people are travelling around the country a lot and there are a lot of people on the roads,” Met Office meteorologist Liam Eslick.
“There is a lot of fog covering much of England, mainly the South East and central England, but the rest of the country is seeing quite a bit of thick fog too. It will be pretty murky on Saturday morning and there will still be fog patches that will take a little longer to clear.”
Flights were delayed by up to three hours from Gatwick on Friday evening due to poor conditions. One person wrote on X: “Returning home from a Christmas cruise with @pandocruises. Stuck at Tenerife Airport due to the severe fog at @Gatwick_Airport. Flight delayed indefinitely. Lots of angry passengers but safety has to come first. The weather must be bad in #Sussex! Wonder when I’ll get home!”
Another said: “Why are all the flights from @Gatwick_Airport suddenly delayed? Our flight to #ZRH delayed by an hour. Many delayed 3hrs.” And a further wrote: “We were told that flights have not departed before 4pm and there is a huge line now. We’re stuck on an airplane on the runaway in Naples and been told there might be a delay of up to 3hrs.”
A spokesperson for Nats, the UK’s main air traffic control provider, said: “Due to widespread fog, temporary air traffic restrictions are in place at several airports across the UK today. Restrictions of this sort are only ever applied to maintain safety. We continue to monitor the situation and have a Met Office expert embedded within our operation to ensure we have the latest available information. Our teams are working closely with the airports and airlines to minimise disruption.”
Mr Eslick said the fog levels could sink a little lower on Saturday, so higher hills could be clearer. The Met Office has advised motorists to go steady when they are driving in fog. But lingering low cloud should start to clear on Sunday, Mr Eslick said.
Some stronger winds are forecast on Sunday which “will pick up and turn over these cloudy and murky conditions to help clear the fog”, Mr Eslick added. The murky conditions of late are less likely to return in the last couple of days of the year but people should not hold out hope for much winter sunshine. “It looks like it won’t be as dank and horrible (early next week) but it will still be wet and windy across much of the country,” Mr Eslick said.