Heathrow passengers land in Edmonton

Amanda Young, left, hands her daughter to her grandmother, Diane Hill, after arriving in Edmonton from London's Heathrow Airport on Wednesday afternoon.

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Relieved passengers landed Wednesday afternoon on the first Edmonton-bound Air Canada flight to arrive from London's Heathrow Airport since snow stranded thousands of passengers on the weekend.

"I was stuck at Heathrow Airport from the 20th and then I had to take a four-hour train back to where I was from and then I finally got out today," said Rupaly Toor, who travelled home to Edmonton for her Christmas break from school.

"So yeah, it's horrible there ... it's exactly how it is on TV. There's tents outside and just people camping and it's not good."

Weather delays forced Air Canada to cancel many of its flights to and from London. The airline was able to resume its full schedule Tuesday but officials warned it might take more than a week to lear the passenger backlog.

Two incoming flights, and two outgoing flights from the Edmonton International Airport were cancelled because of the snow in London.

"It took them three days without snow to get a runway cleared. It's just ridiculous," said Howard Singleton, who flew to Edmonton to visit his brother.

Singleton was supposed to fly out of Heathrow on Monday but his flight was cancelled after the plane wasn't allowed to land.

All the worries and delays were forgotten when Diane Hill's daughter and son-in-law walked through the arrivals gate with their new baby girl.

"It feels fabulous. Christmas will be Christmas," Hill said.


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Air Canada resumes full schedule to snowy U.K.

An Air Canada spokesperson said the airline has resumed its full array of flights to London's Heathrow airport Tuesday evening.

This will mean a return to the regular schedule of nine flights going to London and nine returning to Canada on Wednesday, Peter Fitzpatrick told CTV News.

"We think it's good news, but at the same time, there's quite a backlog of passengers," he said. "We're not sure how long it's going to take to move all the people affected by cancelled flights, but it may well take a week or more."

It's difficult to put a number on how many people are affected, he said. Only about one-third of Air Canada's scheduled flights to Heathrow have been able to occur since the airport received about 13 centimetres of snow Saturday.

Holiday-season flights are almost always heavily booked, "but this is certainly going to alleviate the pressure," Fitzpatrick said.

Some British Airways flights also began to get back on track Tuesday, but the company warned it could take until Thursday for planes to begin taking off regularly.

In the meantime, U.K.-bound passengers at Pearson International Airport can only grit their teeth and wait.

Dennis Leslie is one of those feeling the frustration. The father of three from Brandon, Man., is spending his fourth day waiting for a flight to London to join his wife and children.

"You can put your name down on standby but, it's already overbooked," he said Tuesday.

"Every time you don't get your name called, you've got to go stand back in line. You get your name put to the bottom of their priority list, so then you wait again. They only take 10 people … flight get cancelled, back in line, put your name on a list."

Sarah Newberry said she was supposed to be on priority standby "because I'm running out of my medication, and there's no communication between staff, and I'm left again."

One woman said she knows she won't return to Britain in time for Christmas, with her flight booked for Dec. 29.

Another British citizen said if he could just get home for Christmas, all the hassles would be worthwhile.

One flight departed Pearson on Tuesday for Heathrow at 8:30 a.m.

Flights taking off from Pearson Tuesday night:

* AC848
* AC856
* AC868

People should check their flight's status before heading to the airport, Fitzpatrick said. Stranded passengers should either rebook online or through a call centre, but there are long delays through the call centre, he said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron had offered the services of the army to get Heathrow fully operational as soon as possible, but the airport declined.

For much of Tuesday, only one runway was available, with more than half of Heathrow's flights being cancelled. But a second runway has since re-opened. Nine flights are set to land in Canada from Heathrow Wednesday morning.

Europe's top transport official has threatened tougher regulation for airports for not being able to handle the winter weather.

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