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Thousands of holidaymakers are facing huge travel disruption this morning after dozens of flights were cancelled at London Gatwick and Heathrow airports.
Two of the busiest airports in the UK are in chaos today after EasyJet grounded 32 flights at Gatwick.
The same number of flights from Heathrow have also been cancelled by British Airways.
This is due to Air Traffic Control issues and bad weather across Europe, leaving 10,000 passengers in limbo.
Flights include to and from Rome, Barcelona, Lanzarote, Budapest, Venice, Belfast International and Edinburgh.
Ryanair made no cancellations but issued a statement on its website apologising for delays due to ‘repeated air-traffic control staff shortages’.
It comes after a British Airways plane was struck by lightning on its approach to Heathrow Airport on Sunday afternoon.
Passengers onboard Flight BA919 from Stuttgart to Heathrow – some returning from Euro 2024 matches in Germany – told of their ‘shock’ after the dramatic incident which forced crews to divert to Gatwick.
The flight left Germany just after 1pm local time (12pm BST) and was due to land at Heathrow at 1.40pm.
But the poor weather forced the pilots to divert to Gatwick, where passengers arrived at around 2pm before they were driven to Heathrow.
One passenger, Jeco, told The Sun: ‘The crew were amazing when our flight got struck by lightning on the approach to Heathrow. It was shocking. The flight had to divert to Gatwick.’
Another man, whose son and grandson were onboard, described it as the ‘flight from hell’ after passengers were delayed by over heated brakes in Stuttgart before being diverted in the UK due to lightning.
Passenger Robert Rossall, who was returning from a trip to Germany for the Euros, praised the response by the captain and his crew, telling MailOnline: ‘The captain made a decision to land at the safer airport given the conditions and lightning strike.
‘Once on the tarmac he was informative and even walked the length of the plane to talk to all passengers. Cabin crew passed around bottled water and were calming. [It was] very professionally handled.’
A map showing the flight’s route shows the plane travelling on a smooth course before suddenly circling and zigzagging away from Heathrow.
A spokesman for British Airways said: ‘BA919 diverted to Gatwick earlier this afternoon due to weather related conditions in the region.
‘The flight landed just before 2pm. Customers were driven from Gatwick to Heathrow.’
Lighting strikes on flights are very common and are usually harmless. Experts suggest most planes are hit by lightning once or twice a year.
