Delays as runway lights fail at Heathrow

FLIGHTS to Heathrow Airport were delayed by up to three hours yesterday after a “technical issue” affected lighting on the runways.

The problem left some London-bound passengers stranded in the US waiting to fly. Twitter user Shaan Khan wrote from New York: “We are on BA116. Ground staff at JFK not opening the door. Pilot growing impatient, as are passengers.”

Passenger Davey Hunt posted: “On the ground in Atlanta. The bar is open and I’m not working tomorrow so not that fussed.”

Heathrow said the problem was resolved by 6.05am but advised customers to check their flight status before travelling.

Nearly one in seven flights due to land at Heathrow between 6am and 8.59am was delayed by more than 15 minutes, according to aviation data firm FlightStats.

This included 11 flights delayed by more than 45 minutes. The worst delay was to a United Airlines flight from Newark, near New York, which was operating three hours and five minutes behind schedule.

Out of 64 scheduled departures between 6am and 7.59am, there was one cancellation and five flights were delayed.

A Heathrow spokesman said: “Following an earlier, technical issue with the lighting system for the runways, contingency plans have been activated and both runways are currently open and fully operational. Investigations continue to find the root cause of this issue and we apologise for any impact that this may have had on passengers.“

Train passengers also faced delays in the morning travelling between Heathrow and central London because of a problem with a section of track in the Ealing area.