London’s Heathrow Cancels 650 flights
The worst snowstorm to hit Britain in 18 years forced the cancellation of more than 650 flights at London’s Heathrow airport Monday and shut down the city’s bus network, partially paralyzing the British capital.
Heathrow, one of the busiest transport hubs in the world, closed both its runways for more than two hours Monday morning and operated with just one for the rest of the morning, according to BAA, the company which runs it.
London City airport is also closed, while the British capital’s other two airports, Stansted and Gatwick, were operating with severe delays, BAA said.
British Airways canceled all flights out of Heathrow until 5 p.m. except for Edinburgh and Lisbon routes.
One of the city’s largest cab companies was in such high demand it stopped taking cash and credit card bookings, serving only customers with accounts, it said.
Dial-a-Cab, which has a fleet of over 2,500 vehicles, served mainly blue-chip companies trying to get employees into work, said Keith Cain a Control Room manager for the company.
Jochen Jaeger, 36, found himself stranded at Heathrow, unable to fly home to Zurich or to get back into the apartment he rented in London.
“I will stay here at the airport,” he told CNN. “There is no other option. I may have to spend the night here.”
The city’s subway system was experiencing severe delays, leaving normally bustling central London something of a ghost town.
On a regular weekday, London’s transit system handles more than three million passenger journeys.
The Federation of Small Businesses estimated that at least one in five workers nationwide — about 6.4 million employees — failed to make it into work Monday morning.
But the figure was estimated to be far higher — around two in five — in London and southeast England, which is home to around a fifth of all British businesses.
Monday’s disruptions are likely to cost businesses £1.2 billion ($1.7 billion), FSB spokesman Stephen Alambritis told CNN.
