Fog-bound air passengers prepare to take off
Air passengers grounded at Heathrow were today asked for their patience as delays and cancellations caused by thick fog slowly began to ease off.
An airport spokesman said that while visibility was much better and the majority of services were operating, some congestion would remain.
Passengers have faced cold, queues and cancellations because of the weather in recent days, but British Airways is hoping to operate 95% of its services today, including 87% of short-haul flights.
Yesterday the airline had been forced to axe 170 flights, including its entire domestic programme from Heathrow, after air traffic controllers limited the number of flights to and from the west London airport.
The number of its cancellations today has been reduced to 46 and it hopes operate a full service on Christmas Eve.
All BA's domestic services in and out of Heathrow should be resumed after midday today, while its Heathrow-to-Paris and Heathrow-to-Brussels services, which have been axed during the last few days, will resume tomorrow.
Today a Heathrow spokesman said: "The situation is improved today. The visibility is considerably better and we are hoping to operate a far better schedule today. British Airways have already indicated they hope to operate about 95% of their flights.
"So far we have about 70 cancellations but that's out of a total schedule of 1,300 flights a day at Heathrow. In comparison with recent days, that's a much better figure bearing in mind that on Thursday there were 370 cancellations.
"Clearly we are still relying on the patience of passengers on what will still be a busy and very difficult day.
"Clearly there will still be some congestion in terminals but we are looking at a much better day and we are confident that we are going to get people away before Christmas."
Asked about the outlook for tomorrow he said: "Clearly the situation is weather dependent, but if the weather does continue to improve then we would hope to be operating a normal day."
In the last three days passengers have been left stranded in long queues, or slumped over tables trying to sleep, as more than 1,000 flights were axed because of weather conditions.
British Airways has apologised to travellers for disruption to their journeys and said it has drafted in extra staff from across the airline to ensure they reach their destinations before Christmas Day.
The airline will continue to lay on coach services to UK destinations and larger planes on Heathrow routes to short-haul destinations Frankfurt, Madrid, Copenhagen, Geneva and Paris in a bid to help people complete their journeys.
At Heathrow, BAA has laid on food and drink for waiting passengers as well as entertainment for children. There were heated marquees and blankets and ponchos were provided as well as towels and washpacks.
Norwich, Coventry, Bristol and Cardiff were among other airports hit by the freezing fog over the past few days.
