UK News

Heathrow says 'sorry' as it struggles to return to normal (Roundup)

Dec 23, 2010, 12:49 GMT

A British Airways aircraft taxi\'s on to the runway in preparation for take off at Heathrow Airport in London, 21 December 2010. EPA/ANDY RAIN

London - After days of delays, cancellations and travel misery for thousands of travellers, operators of London's Heathrow airport said 'sorry' to customers as it promised to offer near-normal services Thursday.

A spokesman for operators BAA said Heathrow would run around 90 per cent of flights Thursday, with more than 200,000 people travelling. Around 1,200 flights would take off Thursday.

But the airport warned that many planes and crews remained out of position, so there were still likely to be some delays and cancellations.

'We are extremely sorry for the disruption to people's journeys and we are working hard with airlines to return to a normal schedule,' said a spokesman for BAA.

British Airways (BA), which cancelled more than 2,000 flights since Saturday, said it hoped to operate a full long-haul departure schedule Thursday and Friday.

BA, which is allowing anyone booked until December 31 to either rebook or get a refund, said it hoped to operate all its Heathrow long-haul services Thursday, as well as the 'vast majority' of short- haul flights.

BA said it would also operate a normal schedule at Gatwick Airport and at London City Airport. However, customers were still advised to check with their airline to see if their flight was leaving.

The situation also eased for train travellers booked on Eurostar services to Paris and Brussels, which had also seen long delays. However, Eurostar is taking no new bookings for journeys before Christmas.

BAA has come under intense attack for its failure to deal with the consequences of the heavy snowfalls last Saturday. Under pressure from politicians, BAA chief executive Colin Matthews has agreed to forego his 2010 annual bonus.

BAA has denied recent allegations that the operators ran out of de-icer during the peak of the crisis.

'It is categorically untrue that we have either run out of de- icer, failed to order enough de-icer or accepted de-icer supplies from the government,' a spokesman said.