Hundreds of flights delayed at Heathrow and Gatwick as thunderstorms leave travellers stranded up to six hours
Dozens more flights have been cancelled, with disruption was expected until the end of the day
Over 900 flights have been delayed at London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports as the UK's heatwave turns to thunderstorms.
Listen to this article
Dozens more flights have been cancelled during to the stormy weather, with UK's air traffic control service (NATS) saying the disruption was expected to continue into Sunday.
Delays to affected flights vary, but Gatwick's live departure board shows delays of nearly six hours on an outbound flight to Antalya in Turkey.
Around 474 flights arriving at or departing from Heathrow have been delayed so far on Saturday, according to tracker FlightAware.
An additional 439 have been impacted coming in and out of Gatwick, where it is understood that temporary air traffic control restrictions had been put in place.
Read more: Conservatives pledge tax break for army reserves in plan to boost numbers
Read more: British rescue team joins Venezuela earthquake search effort as death toll nears 1,000
They are understood to be the only two UK airports currently facing "heavy" delays due to inclement weather, according to Europe-wide aviation agency Eurocontrol.
They added that the most severe air traffic control delays were in airspace between south-east England and north-western Europe, where the storm clouds currently are, but clarified that flights travelling on flight paths outside of the storm area are still operating as scheduled.
A spokesman for Gatwick airport said: "Due to ongoing thunderstorms across the network last night, temporary air traffic restrictions were put in place, which resulted in some flights being delayed and cancelled this morning."
A Heathrow airport representative added: "Adverse weather conditions and thunderstorms across the UK and Europe has led to temporary air traffic restrictions, which means some flights at Heathrow were impacted this morning.
"Passengers can check with their airlines for the status of their flights."
EasyJet said they are doing their best to help passengers impacted by the disruption.
In a statement on Saturday afternoon, NATS said: "Severe thunderstorms across the South East of England and Europe continue to impact flights, and this is expected to continue for the remainder of today and overnight. To ensure the safety of the travelling public, aircraft need to avoid affected areas and be spaced further apart, which limits the number of flights that can operate safely.
"We understand disruption is frustrating, but we’re working closely with airlines and airports to reduce disruption as much as possible. Passengers should continue to contact their airline for the latest information on their flight."
"It's chaos"
Eddie Moloney from East Sheen, 66, is one of thousands of passengers currently stranded in Gatwick Airport.
He was due to fly to the Xanadu resort in Türkiye with his son and grandson on an Easyjet flight.
He said the airport is chaotic.
“There’s people lying on the floor, sitting around...it’s chaos here. No one is here, there’s no staff.
"They’ve taken all the baggage off and laid it on the floor
“Some people have been here six or seven hours. There’s no staff here, no water…there are just people waiting and waiting.”