One in five flights from airports in the UK and Ireland was cancelled on Friday as Storm Eowyn caused disruption at several major airports. Aviation analytics company Cirium said at least 1,070 flights scheduled to operate to, from or between the countries’ airports were axed as of midday.
That is equivalent to 20% of all flights, affecting around 150,000 passengers. Dublin was the worst affected airport in terms of cancellations, with 119 departures and 109 arrivals.
That was followed by Edinburgh (81 departures, 77 arrivals), Heathrow (50 departures, 58 arrivals) and Glasgow (43 departures, 42 arrivals). Hundreds of passengers also spent hours on flights which returned to their points of departure after being unable to land at their planned destinations.
Ryanair flight RK596 from Stansted, Essex, to Edinburgh reached the Scottish capital’s airport but could not touch down safely. After circling over the Borders it returned to Stansted, landing two hours and 44 minutes after taking off.
Passengers onboard Ryanair flight FR338 from Luton to Dublin are enduring a similar experience. The plane took off from the Bedfordshire airport at 9.33am, and is scheduled to land back there at 12.24pm after reaching the Irish capital but being unable to touch down.