Just eight days before Christmas, fog is causing severe problems for thousands of passengers using London City airport.
At least seven flights have been cancelled, including the first flight from Glasgow with British Airways and the Loganair arrival from the Isle of Man.
KLM passengers to and from Amsterdam are worst affected by disruption. The first flight of the day from the Dutch airport departed on time but spent 30 minutes holding over the North Sea before the pilots decided to divert to Southend – 28 miles from its intended destination.
The Embraer aircraft offloaded passengers and is understood to have flown back empty to Amsterdam.
The next two arrivals from Amsterdam were both cancelled, along with the corresponding outbound flights, jeopardising connections for passengers planning to connect at Schiphol airport to long haul destinations.
Under air passengers’ rights rules, travellers whose flights are cancelled – or who miss their onward connections – are entitled to be flown to their destination as soon as possible on any airline, and to be provided with meals and hotels until they get there.
Other flights inbound to London City have been heavily delayed waiting for the fog to clear, with delays of more than an hour for British Airways arrivals from Belfast City, Dublin and Madrid.
London City’s runway, only 19 feet above mean sea level, is adjacent to the River Thames and is often affected by poor visibility.
The airport is classed as “Category 3” due to the steep approach – requiring pilots to have special training to land.
Other London airports do not appear to be affected by the fog. Wizz Air cancelled an inbound flight from Rome to Luton, due to industrial action in Italy.
But several flights inbound to Southampton were heavily delayed by fog. An Aurigny flight from Guernsey held for over an hour, flying circuits above Southampton Water, before landing at the Hampshire airport. An easyJet arrival from Glasgow was an hour behind schedule.
Subsequent flights from Southampton are delayed.
Read more: What rights do you have to compensation for cancelled or delayed flights?
