• 

  London Heathrow Airport

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  LHR-EGLL

  Country:

  United Kingdom

  CEO:

  John Holland-Kaye

  Passenger Count :

  19,392,178 (2021)

  Runways :

  09L/27R - 3,902m (12,802ft) | 09R/27L - 3,660m (12,008ft)

  Terminals:

  Terminal 2 | Terminal 3 | Terminal 4 | Terminal 5

Following her death last week, the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II is set to take place on Monday, September 19th. Owing to Heathrow Airport's proximity to central London and Windsor Castle, the facility's operations will see significant disruption during the various ceremonies in order to keep the surrounding skies quiet.

Multiple periods of disruption

Events surrounding the Queen's passing have already contributed to extensive disruption in the aviation industry, with London Heathrow Airport (LHR) being hit especially hard. For example, the capital's skies had to be kept quiet on Wednesday afternoon, as the Queen's coffin was the subject of a ceremonial procession from Buckingham Palace. This resulted in just under two hours of alterations.

However, for the funeral itself, operations at the UK's largest and busiest airport look set to face even more restrictions. For example, the Independent reports that departures and arrivals will be halted between 11:40 and 12:10, with a two-minute silence at the end of the ceremony set to take place in the middle of this window. Unfortunately, this will only be the start of a heavily disrupted afternoon.

Indeed, arriving traffic will be halted once again between 13:45 and 14:20 in order to retain quiet skies during the procession of the hearse. The BBC notes that departing traffic will then face an even longer period of inactivity, between 15:03 and 16:45, while the ceremonial procession via the Long Walk to Windsor Castle takes place. Normally, this period would see some 68 flights lift off.

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Impacts on British Airways' operations

As Heathrow's largest airline, UK flag carrier British Airways looks set to face the bulk of the disruption. A spokesperson for BA confirmed to Simple Flying that it will see "around 50 short-haul roundtrip cancellations across the day (...) on European flights where we have multiple frequencies."

However, the national airline has been proactive in handling the disruption, offering to either rebook or refund affected passengers. Furthermore, in order to enable as many passengers to be rebooked as possible, BA plans to operate certain flights on impacted routes with larger aircraft, as and where capacity allows.

The carrier's long-haul operations are not set to face such significant impacts, with no cancelations planned. However, it is worth noting that the airline "will be retiming some services so that customers can travel on Monday as planned." In these instances, passengers are being informed of the alterations in advance. Thankfully, BA's London City and Gatwick operations are set to run as normal.

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Less disruption at Virgin Atlantic

Long-haul specialist Virgin Atlantic is another carrier with a significant footprint at London Heathrow. While, in BA's case, intercontinental flights have escaped the worst of the disruption, a spokesperson for Virgin Atlantic confirmed that it has had to cancel four flights to comply with the extensive operational restrictions. All four of these affected services involve destinations in the US.

Two (VS142 from Los Angeles and VS20 from San Francisco) are inbound services that would have departed on Sunday, September 18th, but likely arrived during Monday's restricted periods. Correspondingly, two Monday departures to Los Angeles (VS23) and San Francisco (VS41) have also been shelved as a result.

One final alteration will see flight VS155 to Las Vegas depart earlier, taking off at 11:30 rather than the planned time of 15:05. Virgin Atlantic's spokesperson confirmed to Simple Flying that "all customers [will be] rebooked on to alternative same-day services wherever possible, or they can rebook or request a refund."

Regardless of the airline, Heathrow is advising passengers to travel to and from the airport via public transport. This is because, as it explains, "roads around the airport are expected to be extremely busy" in relation to the various ceremonies.

What do you make of the significant operational disruption expected to face London Heathrow Airport throughout Monday? Have your travel plans been impacted? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Sources: BBC, London Heathrow Airport, The Independent