Heathrow was showing 29 cancelled flights to and from the United States by 6.45am on Saturday 14 November, with a further 19 departures delayed, as disruption from Friday's US air traffic shutdown rolled into a second day.
The cancellations followed the US Federal Aviation Administration's decision to ground all domestic departures across the continental United States for more than four hours on Friday. The FAA halted flights from 15:54 to 20:15 US Eastern time (19:54 GMT to 01:15 GMT Saturday) because of a telecommunications problem affecting air traffic control systems. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the cause was outdated, overloaded equipment rather than a cyberattack, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said investigators found no evidence of an attack or sabotage. The BBC reported it was the longest such ground stop since the September 11 attacks in 2001, with more than 15,000 US flights delayed or cancelled and an estimated 1.5 million passengers affected.
According to the Evening Standard, which checked Heathrow's own flight board at 6.45am on Saturday, 13 departures and 16 arrivals linking Heathrow to US cities including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and Miami were cancelled. Airlines affected include British Airways, American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines. Three flights due to arrive at Gatwick from Orlando were also cancelled.
The disruption began reaching Heathrow on Friday night, when British Airways cancelled a 10.30pm departure to New York as the FAA's ground stop took hold. British Airways apologised to customers on social media for the possible delays and cancellations and advised passengers to still travel to the airport for their original departure time unless told otherwise by the airline.
The BBC reported that disruption had continued into Saturday, though it described delays in the UK as "limited" overall, with a small number of flights cancelled and inbound flights from the US to Heathrow and Manchester experiencing only minor delays by comparison with the chaos in the US itself. Duffy warned on Friday night that the ripple effect on schedules would continue for a number of days while airlines reposition aircraft and crew to clear the backlog.
What this means for your journey: if you are flying to or from the United States via Heathrow this weekend, check your flight status directly with your airline before setting off, as further changes are possible while the backlog clears. If your flight is cancelled and you need to rearrange ground transport at short notice, see our guide to /taxis/ at Heathrow.