Heathrow Plane Accident

**efq** · 02-02-2009, 12:40 PM

Airports across the UK were closed today as heavy snowfall brought chaos to the runways.
An aircraft slid on to the grass at Heathrow as many of the country's biggest airports bore the brunt of the heavy snow.
A BAA spokesman said the Cyprus Airways flight, CY 332, from Larnaca went on to the grassed area after making a "safe landing" at Heathrow before the runway was closed.
"All passengers on board the plane are being transferred by bus to the airport terminal," he said.
"There were no injuries to any passengers."
The spokesman went on: "Due to the current adverse weather conditions all BAA airports in the South East are experiencing significant delays and cancellations."
He urged passengers to check with their airline for the latest information before leaving for the airport.
At Heathrow, the southern runway reopened at 10.30am and flights were beginning to take off and land again, but there were significant delays and more than 650 cancellations.
He said: "Heathrow's full snow operation (consisting of 58 snow cutters, ploughs and de-icers) have been working around the clock since 3pm yesterday on double shifts to clear the snow and ice.
"The snow fall has been the heaviest in decades and has meant that our operation is even finding it difficult to find empty space to put the snow."
"Flights at Gatwick continue to operate but with long delays and some cancellations.
"London City Airport is closed.
"It is likely that this disruption will continue for some considerable time. Customers can either rebook on an alternative flight or claim a refund."
A spokesman for BAA said: "Due to the current adverse weather conditions all BAA airports in the South East are experiencing significant delays and cancellations.
"With bus and rail services affected and difficult road conditions across the country, please take extra care and time if you do intend travelling to the airport."
Southampton Airport was also forced to close its runway but BAA said it hoped to restore a service later in the day.
Flights were landing and taking off at Stansted and Gatwick but the company said there were many delays and cancellations at both airports.
Ryanair staff handed leaflets to passengers at Stansted saying more than 70 flights had been cancelled.
A spokeswoman for London City said it had not been able to operate its runway since about 7.30pm yesterday.
She said ploughs had been out this morning to try to to clear the runway, where the snow was up to 20cm deep in places.
But continuous fresh falls were hampering efforts, she said.
"The snow has stopped at the moment and they are attempting to clear the runway and as soon as that is achieved we will be able to reopen," she said.
"But the snow keeps falling every time that we try and clear it."
She said around 60 departures had been cancelled this morning while incoming flights had also either been cancelled or diverted.
Passengers at Leeds Bradford International Airport were facing delays after the runway was closed earlier today.
The airport's website showed that a number of flights had been cancelled and many more were delayed, some indefinitely.
Flights due to land at the airport were also delayed because of the weather conditions.
However, a spokeswoman for the airport said the runway had now been cleared and advised passengers to check in as normal.
She said: "The runway has just reopened so we are operational."
Passengers flying out of Newcastle Aiport were also affected by the freezing weather conditions, with flights being delayed and cancelled.
Three flights to Amsterdam, London and Paris had to be cancelled because of the snow early this morning, and a further five flights were grounded because London's Heathrow Airport has stopped accepting short haul flights.
Newcastle Airport spokesman Wendy Dawley said: "Most flights are operating as normal, but there may be slight delays to some.
"We had a lot of delays early on this morning, but those delays have cleared now. As soon as we have a period when there is no snow we can start to clear those delays," she said.
"Things are looking good at the moment, but we are expecting further snow this afternoon so that may change."
Flights at Luton airport were suspended this morning as snow brought runways to a halt.
An airport spokeswoman said there had been 15 departure cancellations and three arrival flights, while other flights were diverted elsewhere.
She said: "Currently we have suspended all flights until at least 12.30pm.
"The runway is being cleared and it will be reviewed at 12.30pm."
All passengers were being advised to check with their airlines.
A snow shower forced the temporary closure of the runway at Birmingham International Airport, a spokeswoman said.
The airport had been receiving arrivals heading to other affected airports - including Luton, Gatwick and Stansted - until a flurry of snow hit the runway at around 9.30am.
The spokeswoman said: "The runway was closed from 9.50am until 11am because of a snow shower.
"We were receiving flights from other airports earlier this morning but the snow is really heavy here now and it is expected to worsen as the day goes on so we are playing it by ear."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...s-1523187.html