Severe thunderstorms severely disrupted London air traffic on Saturday, June 27, 2026, causing flight delays of up to 11 hours at Heathrow and Gatwick airports.
The storms followed a record-breaking heatwave.
Nearly 800 arriving and departing flights were delayed and dozens were canceled across both major aviation hubs due to the sudden tempests.
Data from FlightAware indicated that Heathrow Airport experienced at least 377 delayed flights, while Gatwick Airport recorded 399 delays.
According to the live arrivals board at Heathrow, a British Airways flight from Santiago, Chile, scheduled to land at 10:00 AM BST, was delayed for 11 hours with an expected arrival time of 21:00 PM BST.
The European aviation agency, Eurocontrol, reported that the most critical air traffic control backlogs were concentrated in the airspace between southeastern England and northwestern Europe.
Eurocontrol noted that an expansive zone of warm, unstable air stretching from northern Spain to southern Sweden would likely foster new storm clouds overnight.
The UK air traffic control service, NATS, noted that the weather disruptions were expected to persist throughout the day due to severe weather forecasts in southeastern England.
The storms followed a record June heatwave where temperatures reached 37.3 degrees Celsius in Suffolk on Friday.
A passenger named Adam Joseph, 29, described being stranded at Venice Airport in Italy without air conditioning because his connecting flight to Gatwick was delayed by over four hours.
Joseph said that travelers were informed they would not be eligible for compensation due to air traffic control restrictions.
Joseph added that passengers received no communication from the airline and that he had to give up his seat to a family with a pregnant mother because people were very upset.
British Airways stated in an apology that they had to make some schedule adjustments due to air traffic control restrictions caused by unfavorable weather conditions affecting certain areas of UK airspace.
Gatwick Airport officials confirmed that temporary air traffic control restrictions were implemented due to ongoing storms.
Easyjet proactively canceled several flights to and from Gatwick, offering affected passengers refunds, rescheduling options, hotel accommodations, and meals.
A mother wrote on social media platform X to Easyjet during the morning disruptions, expressing frustration that her daughter had been sitting on a plane at Gatwick for four hours and the flight was canceled.
Heathrow Airport management advised all passengers to check the status of their flights directly with their airlines before traveling to the airport.
