Travel plans continue to be affected by a “perfect storm” of adverse weather conditions as millions head home for Christmas in the UK.
It comes as the Met Office is forecasting a “grey Christmas” this year, with some sunny spells and “extremely mild” temperatures.
Heathrow airport said around 100 flights were cancelled on Sunday due to strong gales, with passengers advised to continue checking before they travel as the Christmas week begins.
As of 2pm on Monday, two flights departing Heathrow had been cancelled and two arrivals were cancelled.
At least 15 departures from Heathrow had been delayed throughout the day.
Destinations affected range from domestic, with a flight to Manchester held, to European destinations including Madrid and Copenhagen, and across the Atlantic to Miami and Vancouver.
The disruption comes as Heathrow airport is expecting its busiest December on record.
The number of passengers travelling through the hub on Christmas Day is anticipated to be 21 per cent higher than in 2023.
Of the cancelled flights on Sunday, 80 were operated by British Airways and were concentrated on short haul and European flights.
Other cancellations included a Virgin Atlantic flight to Miami, two Lufthansa flights to Frankfurt and an Aer Lingus flight to Dublin.
Belfast City airport closed its runway on Sunday afternoon due to a positioning flight with no passengers on board having an “incident on landing”.
Pictures on social media showed the aircraft landing nose-first onto the runway at Belfast City airport during strong winds.
Cancellations continue to affect the airport on Monday, with two flights due to head to London City airport and Leeds Bradford called off.
Arrivals due from Birmingham and Leeds Bradford were also cancelled.
What is the Christmas weather forecast?
The Met Office has forecast a “mild Christmas” with “notably high temperatures” over the festive period.
Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said it would be a “mild Christmas” for many with “notably high temperatures” over the festive period, adding that this “doesn’t necessarily bring sunny skies unfortunately”.
Mr Claydon said: “The key notable factor of the weather through this week really is the mild conditions and higher temperatures.
“The risk of ice and any snow that we had over the weekend has diminished, and no notable heavy rain should bring any impacts to the transport network.”
He added that Christmas Eve on Tuesday was expected to be the mildest day with 14°C and “potentially even up to 15°C in some places”.
Mr Claydon said a mild Christmas Eve could be “quite widespread” from Torbay in Devon to the north east of Scotland, adding that temperatures in Scotland and Northern Ireland were “markedly above average for the time of year”.
The Met Office spokesman said Christmas Day on Wednesday would be a “little bit less mild” with “highs of 13°C and maybe 14°C”.
He added that temperatures would “tail off slowly” towards the end of the week.
In terms of rail travel, trains around the East Midlands were delayed on Monday due to a broken down train between Ely and Norwich.
East Midlands Railway said the incident was disrupting its services on routes between Liverpool, Nottingham and Norwich.
Scotrail services between Glasgow and Ayr are subject to cancellation and delay due to an electrical supply failure, and rail replacement buses are being provided.
The RMT union has announced strike action affecting Avanti West Coast on 31 December and 2 January, along with all Sundays from 12 January to 25 May 2025.
On these dates, their timetables and operating hours will be significantly reduced and trains that do run are expected to be busy.
The AA predicted 21.3 million drivers hit the road on Sunday, while 22.7 million had been expected on Saturday, slightly fewer than the 23.7 million on Friday which was expected to be the busiest day on the roads since the group’s records began in 2010.
The RAC estimated seven million leisure trips would be made on major roads during the weekend, which excludes everyday traffic.
Strong winds on Sunday also led to wide scale cancellation of ferry services in Scotland connecting the islands to the mainland, and across the Irish Sea connecting the island of Ireland to Britain.
The Met Office had in place an ice warning until 10am on Monday for parts of Scotland, warning drivers of difficult travel conditions and slippery roads.
Road travel chaos began for people travelling home for Christmas over the weekend as snow caused the M62 connecting the north of England to close a lane.
A Heathrow spokesperson said on Sunday: “Due to strong winds and airspace restrictions, a small number of flights have been cancelled (on Sunday). This will ensure the vast majority of passengers can still travel as planned.
“We know how important travel at this time of year is and have extra colleagues on hand in our terminals to support people on their journeys. We encourage passengers to check with their airline for the latest information about their flight.”
The airport was keen to stress the vast majority of flights were operating as normal.
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