With Heathrow Airport, the UK's busiest travel hub, closed on Friday due to a nearby fire and power outage, the airline has told thousands of travelers have not traveled to the airport and will check for updates online.
Around 80 airlines operate in Heathrow and sent back to its origins while bounced away inbound flights to other UK airports, or scrambling to rebook the journey.
“This will clearly have a big impact on our operations and our customers,” British Airways said in a statement. The airline had already redirected all flights on its way to Heathrow to other UK airports on Friday morning.
Another British airline, Virgin Atlantic, said it had cancelled all flights until 9:30pm in London.
The airline had asked customers not to travel to Heathrow or scheduled departure airports if Heathrow is their destination and did not contact customer service. Instead, travelers must check flight status on the airline's website, and those with cancelled flights will be emailed with details of their rebooking.
Air France had cancelled eight return flights from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport to Heathrow on Friday, but flights to other UK airports were operating normally, the airline said.
Dutch airline KLM said it would cancel three return flights from Amsterdam to London Heathrow and re-book passengers. However, the airline said it would try to accommodate passengers with an “urgent need” to fly to London by placing them on flights to airports near London.
German airline Lufthansa said all customers on flights inside and outside Heathrow have been rebooked, but urged customers to update their contact details.
Nine flights by Qatar Airways between Heathrow and Hamad International Airport near Doha have been affected. For example, one flight was redirected to Frankfurt and the other to Brussels.
Air India had cancelled most of its flights to Heathrow, but one person returned to Mumbai and the other was repurposed to Frankfurt.
On their website, most airlines say that cancelled flights are rebooked for free. Airlines can be costly because they redirect flights and compensate customers for hotel rooms, food, transportation and other costs associated with fallen schedules.
On Friday, shares in IAG, the parent company of British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia and two other airlines, fell 2.5%.
