Update: Asian carriers try to resume most services at Heathrow

While Heathrow airport expects chaos to continue over the Christmas period due to weather conditions, Asian carriers have responded to the announcement by arranging additional services and resuming some flights.

British Airport Authorities (BAA) announced that only one of the two runways will remain open and functional and therefore only a maximum of one third of all scheduled flights can depart or arrive at LHR.

Consequentially, Cathay Pacific cancelled the morning flight from Hong Kong to London today. The statuses of the other flights between Hong Kong and London are subject to weather conditions and slot availability but are expected to operate as per schedule. Passengers are advised to check for updates regularly here.

The carrier has also set up two dedicated email addresses to ensure that unaccompanied minors, young students, passengers with special needs and Hong Kong residents can board their flights as soon as possible and receive the assistance they need. Parents or guardians of minors and students can email [email protected] with the passenger’s contact numbers, flight details and names. Affected Hong Kong residents can email [email protected]. Both addresses will be operational from 0800 GMT today.

Singapore Airlines has also resumed services but has advised passengers to expect delays. Flights SQ308, SQ318 and SQ322 are all expected to depart on schedule from Singapore to London. Return flights SQ317 and SQ321 are also expected to depart on time, weather permitting. For flight status updates, click here.

Thai Airways has cancelled two flights today due to the situation at Heathrow Airport. They are TG916 from Bangkok to London and TG917 from London to Bangkok. The carrier has arranged for two additional flights from London to Bangkok for passenger backlog: TG9119 and TG9179. These flights will depart today at 1400 GMT and 2135 GMT respectively. For more information, visit www.thaiairways.com.

Emirates has also resumed flights subject to weather conditions and slot availability. The carrier introduced three additional flights from Manchester, Birmingham and London to deal with passenger backlog however timings of these flights have not been confirmed as they vary from day to day. For more information, visit www.emirates.com

Alisha Haridasani