• Delays after passenger jet lands at Heathrow with engine fire

    Stefan Wermuth / Reuters

    A worker walks past a British Airways passenger jet after it was towed off the runway following an emergency landing at Heathrow Airport west of London on May 24, 2013.

    By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

    LONDON - Europe’s busiest airport was disrupted for several hours Friday after a British Airways plane made an emergency landing at Heathrow with a fire in at least one engine.

    Thousands of travelers were delayed or diverted to other London airports following the incident, shortly after 8 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET).

    All 75 passengers were safely evacuated from the Airbus A319 using emergency chutes, but one of the airport’s two runways was closed for almost two hours and the other was also briefly shut.

    Significant delays and disruption were expected for the rest of the day at Heathrow, and British Airways said it was canceling all its short-haul flights – to the UK, Europe and parts of north Africa – until 4 p.m. local time Friday (11 a.m. ET).

    The stricken jet suffered technical problems as it took off for Oslo, Norway, and was forced to return for an emergency landing.

    Eyewitnesses reported smoke billowing from the right hand engine as the jet made its approach over south-west London.

    In a statement, British Airways said Flight BA762 had suffered a "technical fault," but fire officials said they had extinguished a blaze.

    Amateur video of the aircraft in the air showed smoke coming from one engine, and a picture posted to Twitter by one of the passengers after landing showed the aircraft covered in fire-retardant foam. 

    The incident will likely cause disruption for families getting away over the school holiday, which starts on Monday. Britain also has a public holiday on Monday, adding to the number of travelers using Heathrow.

    "We were able to reopen the northern runway within two hours of the incident and we are now focused on returning the airport to normal as quickly as possible," Heathrow's duty manager Mark Freeman told Reuters.

    David Wyllie, breakingnews.com, and Reuters, contributed to this report.

    This story was originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 4:30 AM EDT

  • Hundreds of flights canceled in UK, Paris due to snow

    By Rhys Jones, Reuters

    LONDON -- London's Heathrow Airport canceled a fifth of flights and airlines scrapped 40 percent of flights to Paris' main airports as snow continued to blanket parts of Europe, with more forecast.

    Air France predicted more cancellations on a similar scale for Monday.

    Heathrow Ltd, which is owned by Spain's Ferrovial, said the reduced schedule -- amounting to about 250 fewer flights -- would help it cope with the expected snowfall without making further cancellations.


    As snow continued to fall through Sunday, the airport operator said Monday's flight schedule would be cut by 10 percent. That number could rise, depending on conditions at other European airports, Heathrow said.

    The Paris airport operator, ADP, said airlines scrapped 40 percent of flights into and out of the two main airports on the outskirts of Paris, Charles de Gaulle and Orly, primarily reducing short-haul services. 

    London's smaller Stansted and Gatwick airports said they were operating as normal on Sunday morning but that delays and some flight cancellations were likely. 

    Weather forecaster the British Met Office said snow was likely to continue into Monday. As much as eight centimeters was expected in southeast England on Sunday, it said.

    On average, some 1,300 flights leave Heathrow daily. The airport, Europe's busiest, operates at close to full capacity after Britain's coalition government blocked development of a third runway in 2010. 

    Heathrow has spent 36 million pounds ($57 million) on upgrading its winter weather equipment since 2010 -- a year that saw it face heavy criticism after it almost shut down when snow hit just before Christmas. It now has 130 snow-clearing vehicles. 

    More than 400 flights were canceled on Friday, while on Saturday 111 flights, most of them operated by IAG's British Airways, were canceled and hundreds of passengers spent the night in Heathrow's terminals. 

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    BA said there had been a knock-on effect because many of its planes were in the wrong place after Friday's snow.

    "Like other airlines at Heathrow we have complied with a request to reduce our schedule by 20 percent on Sunday and we continue to work with Heathrow Airport to help keep the airport running as smoothly as possible," BA said in a statement. 

    "We are doing everything we can to help customers whose flights have been disrupted by severe weather."

    PhotoBlog: Hundreds of flights canceled at Heathrow due to snow

    Services by Air France-KLM, Ireland's Aer Lingus and Germany's Lufthansa have also been affected. 

    France's SNCF railway company announced delays of up to 40 minutes on many lines as drivers were ordered to reduce speed as a safety measure. 

    Local media said some 25,000 homes lost power in southwestern France. 

    ($1 = 0.6304 British pounds)

    Additional reporting by Rosalba O'Brien in London, and Brian Love and Gerard Bon in Paris.

  • UK police appeal for help identifying man who fell from sky

    Metropolitan Police via AP

    This e-fit provided by the London Metropolitan Police shows a computer-based face of a man authorities police are trying to identify after his body was found in west London.

    By The Associated Press

    LONDON — Police in Britain have appealed for help establishing the identity of a man whose body apparently fell from a plane in the sky and crashed onto a west London sidewalk.

    A London police spokesman, who was not authorized to speak on the record because of force policy, told The Associated Press on Sunday that police have released an "e-fit" image of the man's face and a photo of a tattoo on his left arm. The unusual tattoo showed the letters "Z" and "G."

    The mystery began in September when residents of a suburban street in Mortlake woke up on a quiet Sunday morning to find the crumpled body of a black man on the sidewalk of Portman Avenue, near a convenience store, an upscale lingerie shop and a storefront offering Chinese medical cures.

    Looking for clues to identity
    Detectives believed at first the man was a murder victim and cordoned off the area. Within a day, however, police concluded the man — probably already dead — had fallen to the ground when a jet passing overhead lowered its landing gear as it neared the runway at nearby Heathrow Airport.


    The apparent stowaway had no identification papers — just some currency from Angola, leading police to surmise that he was from that African country, especially as inquiries showed that a plane from Angola was beginning its descent into Heathrow at about that time.

    More coverage about Britain on NBCNews.com

    The macabre explanation made perfect sense to residents, who are able to see planes lower their landing gears as they pass overhead, said Catherine Lambert, who lives a few doors down from the spot where the man landed.

    "You could see him, his body was contorted," she said. "It was a beautiful blue day, really sunny, but we had to keep the children inside. I didn't want the children to see, and to have to explain to them and put fear into them every time a plane goes over."

    Complete Europe coverage on NBCNews.com

    A post mortem conducted two days after the body landed listed the cause of death as "multiple injuries."

    Lingering sadness
    Lambert, 41, said there is lingering sadness, since the man has not been identified and there has been no way to tell his family he is gone.

    "I felt, what was he running away from? What made him think he could he could? And how will his family ever know? He's a lost soul now; his father and mother are probably waiting for him to make contact," she said.

    Police also said attempts to identify the man with the help of Angolan authorities had been unsuccessful. They stressed there is only "circumstantial" evidence linking the stowaway to that country.

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    In a statement, police said the man is believed to be an African of slight build between the ages of 20 and 30. He was wearing jeans, white sneakers and a gray sweatshirt when he was found on Sept. 9, police said.

    Although firm figures are not available, in recent years there has been a rise in the number of stowaways trying to get to Western Europe by hiding in the undercarriages of passenger planes.

    Police said the body is being held for possible repatriation in case the man's identity is established.

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    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Olympics hurdle: US athletes' bus driver gets lost in London

    The first Olympic athletes have begun to arrive in London. Tens of thousands of athletes and team officials are expected - and even more spectators. ITV's Katie Razzall reports.

    By Alastair Jamieson, NBCNews.com, and ITV News

    Updated at 11:10 a.m. ET: LONDON - Olympic athletes, including some from Team USA, had a bad start to the London Games Monday after bus drivers taking them to the competitors’ village in east London got lost.

    Kerron Clement, US 400m hurdler and Beijing silver medallist, claimed he spent four hours on a bus after the driver got lost after collecting them from Heathrow airport.

    He posted on Twitter:  “Um, so we've been lost on the road for 4hrs. Not a good first impression London. Athletes are sleepy, hungry and need to pee. Could we get to the Olympic Village please.”

    Meanwhile, members of Australian contingent of 30 officials and medical staff had to use their iPhones to direct their bus driver after he also became lost.

    One of the officials, Damian Kelly, told the Daily Telegraph: "It would have been a great tourist trip if that is what you are here for. “

    He said the driver was unable to work the onboard GPS navigation system.

    Follow the 8,000-mile torch relay around the UK

    “One of the doctors on board got [the GPS system] working for him, but then the Olympic Village hadn't been loaded into the system and everyone was trying to find the name of the street that the village was in.

    “In the end another physio got out his iPhone and gave directors to the bus driver via his phone."

    Peter MacDiarmid / Getty Images

    Members of the Cuban Olympic weightlifting team arrive at Heathrow airport on Monday.

    They were among the first of more than 10,000 athletes and officials due to arrive in Britain this week. Monday was already expected to be the busiest day in the history of London's Heathrow airport, and it was the first major challenge for the road system as the first of several dedicated Olympics traffic lanes also came into operation.

    Speaking about the lost buses, London Mayor Boris Johnson quipped: "Clearly they would have had even more of an opportunity to see even more of the city than they might otherwise have done."

    Troops everywhere, long lines and moans: A very British Olympic Games

    The Daily Telegraph reported that Hugh Robertson, Britain's sports and Olympics minister, apologized to those athletes caught up in the transport problems. He said: "If people have been on buses that have got lost then it is of course regrettable. I am extremely sorry, and clearly the drivers need to know where they are going."

    The Games are due to begin in 11 days' time, on Friday, July 27.

    More than 500 Heathrow and Locog volunteers, speaking more than 20 languages between them, were welcoming groups of Olympic athletes and officials from their planes at Heathrow.

    Approximately 15 percent of baggage on peak days will be large pieces of sporting equipment such as canoes, pole vaults, bikes and javelins and around 1,000 guns and associated ammunition will be arriving with competitors over the coming days.

    Read the full story at ITV News

    Influx under way
    Officials said 236,955 passengers (121,239 arrivals and 115,716 departures) were expected to pass through the airport Monday, compared to 190,000 on an average day. The largest number of arriving athletes is expected on July 24.

    Slideshow: Venues for 2012 London Olympic Games

    Oda / Getty Images

    From Wimbledon to Wembley Stadium to The Dome, a look at the venues for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

    Launch slideshow

    Approximately 15 percent of baggage on peak days will be large pieces of sporting equipment such as canoes, pole vaults, bikes and javelins and around 1,000 guns and associated ammunition will be arriving with competitors over the coming days.

    Dean Brenner, director of the U.S. Olympic sailing team, earlier told ITV News at Heathrow: "We're feeling great, it's great to be in London.

    "Obviously we've been working a while for this and now it's time for the big test and we are looking forward to getting to [the sailing team base at] Weymouth for a couple more week of training and getting on with the Games."

    The London 2012 Athletes' Village also officially opens Monday with British athletes competing in diving, equestrian, soccer, shooting and swimming expected to be the first to enter.

    ITV News is the UK partner of NBC News.

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  • Heathrow gives Olympics-sized baggage handling a test run

    ASSOCIATED PRESS

    In this photograph released by British Airports Authority, over 2,400 pieces of baggage are seen lined-up in Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow Airport on May 23, 2012.

    By Harriet Baskas, NBC News contributor

    Heathrow Airport is prepping for a record number of passengers –- and their bags –- during the 2012 Summer Olympics.

    Eighty percent of Games attendees -- enough athletes, officials and spectators to fill 250 jumbo jets -- will arrive for the games via Heathrow.

    And they’ll all be bringing bags: on the peak travel day of the Games, Heathrow expects to handle more than 200,000 bags, compared to 150,000 on a normal day.

    In an effort to avoid baggage chaos, on Wednesday Heathrow officials ran a luggage test in Terminal 5. Between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. more than 3,000 bags -- of all shapes, sizes and weights -- were added into the baggage system, a scenario airport officials said would closely replicate the volume during the busiest days of the Olympics.


    How did they do? 

    “The dry run in Terminal 5 went off extremely well with baggage handlers dealing with all 3,000 bags within two hours,” Heathrow officials said in a statement to msnbc.com.

    In addition to the more than 1,000 volunteers that have been recruited to help athletes and other passengers make their way through Heathrow, there is a separate, temporary Games Terminal with 31 check-in lanes that will divert more than 10,000 athletes and 38,000 bags away from the main terminals.

    Slideshow: Venues for 2012 London Olympic Games

    Oda / Getty Images

    From Wimbledon to Wembley Stadium to The Dome, a look at the venues for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

    Launch slideshow

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  • Heathrow chaos: Travelers spend more time in line than in the air

    By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services

    LONDON -- Welcome to London's Heathrow Airport -- where waiting to clear immigration can take longer than your international flight.

    Some visitors have recently reported waits of more than two hours, triggering front-page headlines as Britain prepares to host the Summer Olympics from July 27 until August 12.


    NBC News' Theresa Cook captured these scenes on her cellphone after arriving at Terminal 5 on a flight from Amsterdam on Monday night.

    "We made it to the back of the line at 9:10 p.m. (4:10 p.m. ET) ... and finally reached the border agent's desk at 10:33 p.m.," she said. "Our flight from Amsterdam Schiphol to Heathrow was scheduled to take 55 minutes, but we made good time and landed early. That means we spent almost twice as much time getting through U.K. border control as we did in the air."

    The disruption has been blamed on the reintroduction of full passport checks for all arriving passengers, following political embarrassment that checks by the U.K.'s border agency had been relaxed, apparently without the knowledge of the government. 

    Heathrow feels the heat as Olympics approach

    'Very apologetic'
    Cook said the immigration officer who checked her passport said that he had been sent from the English Channel port of Dover to help.

    "He admitted they don't have enough staff, was very apologetic for the wait and said: 'We're trying our best but clearly it's not good enough'."

    Uh-oh Heathrow! Long lines, waits hit travelers ahead of Olympics

    London Mayor Boris Johnson last month warned the delays were giving "a terrible impression of the U.K." and demanded action.

    Heathrow typically handles an average of 190,000 arriving and departing passengers each day, but is braced for a major influx during the Olympics.

    At London's Heathrow Airport, the corporate slogan is "Making Every Journey Better". An experienced Border Agency immigration worker says waits of up to three hours have left staff facing public order problems. Channel 4 Europe's Andy Davies reports.

     

    BAA, the Spanish-owned company that operates Heathrow and five other U.K airports, is among those furious at the waiting times. The firm has accused Britain's border agency of not providing enough staff to conduct the necessary passport and visa checks, causing the delays and demanded Britain's interior ministry, the Home Office, takes action.  

    NBC News' Theresa Cook, msnbc.com staff, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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