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Heathrow battles for normality
18/01/2008 17:44 - (SA)
London - London's Heathrow airport, the busiest international airport in the world, struggled to return to normal on Friday, one day after a Boeing 777 crash-landed causing travel chaos but only minor injuries.
British Airways said it planned to operate all of its long-haul flights and up to 90% of short haul departures, but advised passengers to call ahead for flight information.
Just over 50 flights, mostly short-haul, were cancelled on Friday morning.
All 136 passengers walked away from BA flight 83 from Beijing on Thursday after it crash landed well short of the southern runway following what aviation experts said appeared to be a massive power loss on its final approach.
The plane can carry up to 400 passengers.
Newspapers were full of praise for pilot Peter Burkill, hailing him as the saviour of hundreds of lives as he guided the stricken jet over the densely-populated area under the flight path to the west of London.
A team of specialists from Boeing arrived to join air accident investigators in trying to find the cause of the crash.
"The Boeing team came in this morning," a spokesperson for the Department of Transport said. "The black box flight recorders have been removed and taken for examination."
The investigators, examining the fuselage and wreckage of the plane strewn across the end of the runway, said they would issue initial findings by midday on Saturday but that a full explanation of the accident could take months.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose flight to China to promote business ties was delayed by the accident, praised the crew of the giant airliner.
"I think it's right to pay tribute to the calmness and professionalism of the BA staff and the captain, and what he achieved in landing the plane," Brown said shortly after his arrival in Beijing.
The wheels of the plane, which had a routine maintenance check in December, were in the field where it crashed, several hundred metres from the runway.
BA declined to comment on reports of a loss of power. But it praised the pilot and crew for the way they handled the crisis.
"All of the crew did a fantastic job evacuating the 136 passengers. They are all heroes," said British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh.
BAA, which runs Heathrow, said 18 passengers suffered minor injuries.
It said 221 flights, including eight long-haul flights, from a normal schedule of 1 300, had been cancelled on Thursday because of the accident.
Police said there was nothing to suggest the accident was terror-related.
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