Strike action by UK border agency staff as part of a wide-ranging public sector worker walkout today has not so far significantly impacted any of London's airports.
No queues were reported at immigration in Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted airports, while all three reported normal flight services without delays.
Heathrow airport, whose chief operating officer Normand Boivin wrote to airlines last week warning of the potential for serious disruption and asked airlines to voluntarily reduce load factors on international flights to Heathrow by 50%, said it was experiencing no problems by mid-morning. The airport said airlines had responded to the call by cancelling 30 scheduled flight arrivals into the airport as well as 30 departing flights in anticipation of the strike.
Gatwick airport said it "cleared the breakfast peak without a problem" and that its contingencies, including reception areas serving food and drink, were working. By 10am it had received 57 inbound flights into its North and South terminals and had processed around 8,000 passengers. Gatwick said two flights were cancelled but could not confirm the reasons and did not think they were related to the strike action.
Stansted airport said it had experienced no cancellations and its two main customers Easyjet and Ryanair were operating full schedules.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
