Dense fog settled over Heathrow in the early hours of Tuesday 6 October, cutting visibility to as little as 200 metres and forcing air traffic controllers to slow the rate at which aircraft could land, leading to elevated delays and dozens of cancellations that were still being felt into the afternoon.
Official weather reports for the airport, recorded under the ICAO code EGLL, showed persistent fog (METAR code FG) with visibility between 200 and 600 metres between roughly 3.20am and 5.20am UK time, with low cloud reported at just 100ft. Conditions that poor typically force Heathrow's runways onto lower-capacity, instrument-only approach procedures, which reduce the number of aircraft that can land each hour and ripple through the day's schedule.
Travel industry title Travel Market Report, citing live FlightAware tracking data, reported on Tuesday that Heathrow had recorded 215 total delays, split roughly evenly between arrivals and departures, and 73 cancellations as the worst-affected major airport in a wider spell of European network strain that also hit Amsterdam Schiphol and Barcelona. The outlet said early-morning fog at Heathrow, combined with storms affecting Barcelona, had caused gate holds that compounded through the day. British Airways, Heathrow's biggest operator, was named as the most disrupted airline globally at the time of reporting, with around 20% of its schedule delayed.
Live tracking data from Flightradar24 independently showed Heathrow's disruption climbing through the day, with the airport's own figures showing an elevated 238 delayed departures, around 18% of the day's schedule, and 71 cancellations, close to 5%, broadly consistent with the numbers reported by Travel Market Report. Flightradar24 listed several cancelled short and medium-haul services, including a British Airways flight to Dublin, among the day's disruption.
Fog-related slowdowns tend to hit the first wave of morning departures hardest, since aircraft and crew positioned overnight at Heathrow are then used for later rotations throughout the day. That pattern, combined with the wider European congestion, means passengers already delayed on Tuesday morning may find connecting flights elsewhere in Europe also affected.
Heathrow has not issued a standalone statement specific to Tuesday's fog, and neither Heathrow nor British Airways had published updated passenger advice beyond their standard guidance to check flight status before travelling. Passengers with flights scheduled for Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning should check their airline's app directly, since fog-related delays can continue to work through the schedule for several hours after visibility improves.
What this means for your journey: if you are driving to Heathrow to collect a delayed passenger, build in extra waiting time and check our parking guide at /parking/ for short-stay options that will not leave you paying for hours you did not plan on.