BA flights forced to land in Shannon due to snow

Four hundred passengers were taken to hotels in Limerick last night after flights were forced to divert to Shannon because of snow at London’s Heathrow.

The world’s busiest airport had cancelled half of its flights, causing travel chaos.

Four of the six flights which did divert to Shannon were able to continue their journeys later. Aer Lingus and Ryanair have also axed a number of flights from Ireland to London and Birmingham following the snowfall in Britain. Flights from Cork and Belfast to Heathrow were also affected.

Arrangements were made at Shannon to accept diversions, while a fleet of busses was sourced to bring passengers and crew to the Stand Hotel in Limerick.

Shortly before 10am, a second BA flight out of Washington landed, after circling London for almost an hour. The other diverted flights were from Houston, Denver, Atlanta and Miami.

Just before 11am, BA told the crews of all six flights that they would have to remain in Shannon overnight and advised that passengers be taken to local hotels.

However about an hour later, word came that four of the six diverted aircraft would be accepted in London if they could depart immediately.

While the diversions are expected to cost the airline hundreds of thousands of pounds, the unscheduled arrivals provided welcome business for Shannon Airport as well as ground handling agents, bus operators, fuel companies and hotels.

Meanwhile, the largest repositioning of aircraft seen in Europe in many years was completed in under four hours at the weekend, with 14 jets arriving in Shannon.

The 14 Boeing 737s were operated by Malév Hungarian Airlines which ceased operations on Friday after the European Commission ordered the firm to repay millions of euro it received in state aid between 2007 to 2010.

The planes were “ferried” to Shannon late on Friday and early Saturday morning.

Shannon could be in line to earn as much as €800 per aircraft per day for as long as they remain on the ground.