Hundreds of Heathrow and Gatwick flights delayed up to 11 hours as heatwave turns to thunderstorms

Thunderstorms have delayed flights from Heathrow and Gatwick for up to 11 hours.

The UK’s heatwave has turned into stormy weather delaying nearly 800 flights to and from the airports.

Dozens more have been cancelled, and air traffic control said issues were expected to continue for the rest of the day.

According to FlightAware, 377 flights arriving at or departing from Heathrow have been delayed while another 399 have been impacted in and out of Gatwick.

Arrival boards show a British Airways flight from Santiago, Chile, arriving at 9pm when it was meant to arrive at 10am.

The delays come as storms to the south of the UK are set to worsen, with flights needing to avoid the ‘broad area of hot, unstable air’, Eurocontrol said.

A home was damaged in Crawley after a lightning strike, while the roof of a property in Streatham, South London, was destroyed in a blaze sparked by an overnight bolt.

The amber weather warning for extreme heat has been delayed again, with 33C temperatures set to continue to linger over London, the South East and East Anglia until 9pm tomorrow.

The UK’s air traffic control service, said ‘weather disruption was expected to continue through the rest of the day’.

Flights must avoid the turbulent conditions, which stretches from northern Spain to southern Sweden and the south of the UK.

It is expected to continue to develop overnight, but there was a ‘large degree of uncertainty’ over where this will be impacting flight schedules.

Gatwick confirmed some flights had been delayed and cancelled on Saturday ‘due to ongoing thunderstorms’.

Heathrow is advising passengers to check the status of their flight before travelling.

Easyjet has pre-emptively cancelled a number of flights from Gatwick, and were offering customers refunds and accommodation.

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