London Heathrow Airport: flights cancelled as French air traffic control workers strike - affected arrivals and departures

Several flights from Heathrow Airport are cancelled today (Monday 20 November) after the airport saw serious delays yesterday due to "staff absence and strong winds". Temporary restrictions on how many planes can land or take off at Heathrow were put in place yesterday with the airport warning passengers that there would be "minor" changes to its schedules.

The UK's air traffic services provider NATS said that the delays and cancellations were due to “staff absences in the tower” and the weather. It comes after it has been criticised in recent months for disruption at UK airports. 

Over the August bank holiday thousands of flights were cancelled or disrupted when the UK's air traffic control systems suffered a technical failure. Subsequently, flights at Gatwick were cancelled, delayed or diverted at short notice due to a shortage of air traffic controllers.

Today over 10 flights departing the airport are cancelled and over 15 flights arriving are also cancelled. A strike by French air-traffic control staff has caused dozens of cancellations including overflights to destinations such as Spain and Switzerland. The strike began yesterday and is expected to carry on throughout the whole of Monday."

A Heathrow spokesperson said: "Due to strong winds and staff absence in air traffic control, temporary air traffic control restrictions were implemented at Heathrow yesterday morning. ATC continued to implement temporary regulations due to the weather conditions earlier in the afternoon but these have now been removed.

“We want to reassure passengers that our colleagues are working in close collaboration with our airline and air traffic control partners to minimise disruption and get them on their journeys as safely and as quickly as possible. We encourage passengers to check with their airline for the latest information."

A British Airways spokesperson told NationalWorld: “Like other airlines, we're experiencing some delays across our short-haul services due to a French Air Traffic Control strike. We apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused and we're working hard to get them to their destination as quickly as possible."

Which flights are cancelled at Heathrow Airport today?

Listed are the flights departing and arriving from the airport that are cancelled today.

Arrivals

• 09:55 BA flight from Tel Aviv - cancelled

• 10:25 American Airlines flight from New York City - cancelled

• 11:25 BA flight from Barcelona - cancelled

• 11:35 BA flight from Zurich - cancelled

• 11:55 BA flight from Basel - cancelled

• 12:05 BA flight from Toulouse - cancelled

• 12:20 American Airlines flight from Miami - cancelled

• 13:25 BA flight from Nice - cancelled

• 14:55 Iberia flight from Madrid - cancelled

• 16:15 BA flight from Geneva - cancelled

• 16:35 BA flight from Paris - cancelled

• 16:55 BA flight from Barcelona - cancelled

• 17:45 BA flight from Brussels - cancelled

• 18:40 BA flight from Paris - cancelled

• 19:10 BA flight from Nice - cancelled

• 19:15 KLM flight from Amsterdam - cancelled

• 19:45 BA flight from Tel Aviv - cancelled

• 21:55 BA flight from Madrid - cancelled

Departures

• 09:20 United Airlines flight to San Francisco - cancelled

• 11:20 BA flight to Barcelona - cancelled

• 11:55 BA flight to Geneva - cancelled

• 13:05 BA flight to Paris - cancelled

• 13:40 BA flight to Nice - cancelled

• 14:30 BA flight to Brussels - cancelled

• 15:10 BA flight to Paris - cancelled

• 15:45 Iberia flight to Madrid - cancelled

• 16:20 BA flight to Madrid - cancelled

• 16:30 BA flight to Washington DC - cancelled

• 16:35 BA flight to New York City - cancelled

• 20:25 KLM flight to Amsterdam - cancelled

• 21:20 BA flight to Tel Aviv - cancelled