Situation at London airports remains strained
The situation at London’s airports is expected to remain strained over the next few days due to adverse weather conditions: Numerous flights to and from London have been cancelled, and many passengers en route to London have been diverted to other European airports.
Today marked the fourth consecutive day that numerous flights were cancelled or delayed at London Heathrow, Europe’s largest airport. Less than a third of all scheduled flights were able to take off or land at Heathrow, the airport operator told the press today. Only one of the two available runways could be used for air traffic. Air traffic at London’s second-largest airport was also suspended yesterday evening. Flights from Gatwick have resumed this morning.
Situation at London airports remains strained
Date: 30/09/2026
Scenes like a war zone: There is still chaos in Heathrow’s terminals. Stranded passengers have to wait it out on camp beds and cots. Some passengers are now spending their third consecutive night in the airport terminals in London.
Passengers who no longer want to wait for their flights (or cannot do so) are desperately searching for alternatives to leave Britain. As a result, ferries across the English Channel are in high demand and are reporting significantly more crossings than usual. Eurostar trains are also seeing increased demand: Long queues formed at the Eurostar terminal in central London. Queues stretching up to a kilometre formed at the train terminal in central London. However, train services through the Channel Tunnel to Brussels and Paris are also affected by the adverse weather and can operate only on a very limited basis.
Christian Bathen
