Emirates, Etihad cancel flights to Heathrow airport, Air India's London flights disrupted

Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways have cancelled flights to Heathrow and announced diversions in their flight schedule due to the Heathrow closure, according to reports.

Emirates said, “Due to the closure of London Heathrow Airport, the following flights to/from London have been cancelled.

•     EK001/002 21MAR DXB‑LHR‑DXB

•     EK029/030 21MAR DXB‑LHR‑DXB

•     EK031/032 21MAR DXB‑LHR‑DXB

•     EK008 21MAR LHR‑DXB

•     EK003/004 21MAR DXB‑LHR‑DXB

•     EK005/006 21MAR DXB‑LHR‑DXB

The Airline said, “Passengers connecting onto the flights to London Heathrow will not be accepted for travel until further notice at the point of origin.

“We're monitoring the situation closely and will update our customers as the situation develops.

“Customers are also advised to check our website for updates before their travel, and to ensure their contact details are updated by visiting  Manage Your Booking  to receive the latest notifications.

“Emirates is offering customers affected by the flight cancellations the option to rebook to travel to other UK airports, or to travel on a later date.

“Passengers who have booked through travel agents should contact their agent for rebooking. Customers who have booked directly with Emirates can contact us for assistance.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

According to Indo-Asian News Service, India's largest carrier Air India on Friday said that its operations, to and from London Heathrow (LHR), have been disrupted following the temporary suspension of operations at the airport.

Air India said in a statement that London Heathrow-bound AI129 from Mumbai was returning to Mumbai and AI161 from Delhi was diverting to Frankfurt.

"All our remaining flights to and from London Heathrow, including AI111 of this morning, have been cancelled for 21 March. We will update about resumption of operations as soon as we have more information," the airline said. 

It further stated that flights to London Gatwick remain unaffected.

Heathrow Airport was due to see over 1,330 scheduled flights today, flying up to 291,000 passengers, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

The airport was scheduled to see 665 departures today, equating to over 145,094 seats.

A further 669 flights were due to arrive today, equating to 145,836 seats.

British Airways has the largest share of flights from the airport (51%), followed by Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa.