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Heathrow Warns of Delays After Runway Light Problem

British Airways Delays Flights Over Heathrow Lighting Problem

(Bloomberg) -- Heathrow Airport warned of delays early Wednesday as it investigated a problem with runway lighting that’s already disrupted services by British Airways.

While a contingency plan has been activated and both runways are now operational, passengers should check the status of their flights before heading to the airport, Heathrow said in a statement. The airport expects delays all morning as engineers are tackling a technical issue with the lighting system.

“We apologize for any impact this might have on our passengers,” Heathrow said in its statement.

In a statement on its website, British Airways said it planned to operate a full schedule on Wednesday, although there will be some delays. The airline said earlier it was pushing back flights that hadn’t already departed, and diverting others that were due to arrive at the airport.

Fliers experiencing delays took to Twitter, with at least two saying they were held up at John F. Kennedy airport due to the problem at Heathrow.

A representative for Qantas Airways Ltd., which flies direct from Perth to London, said there has been no impact on its services. QF9 from Perth landed at Heathrow at 4:52 a.m. local time, according to the airport’s website. The return flight, QF10, is scheduled to depart Heathrow at 11:55 a.m. Wednesday.

Singapore Airlines Ltd., which operates flights between the city-state and London, said flights were currently operating as scheduled. SQ322 landed at Heathrow at 5:18 a.m. local time. The carrier’s flight 305 is scheduled to leave Heathrow for Singapore on time at 9:10 a.m.

--With assistance from Sarah Jacob, Anooja Debnath and Jihye Lee.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kyunghee Park in Singapore at kpark3@bloomberg.net;Angus Whitley in Sydney at awhitley1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sam Nagarajan at samnagarajan@bloomberg.net, Lena Lee

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.