Several Filipinos are among thousands of people stranded at the Heathrow in London after flights have been cancelled due to volcanic ash clouds. An estimated 3,000 flights were grounded in the UK airports and hundreds of thousands of people were affected since the airport lockdown Thursday. A huge cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland drifted across Britain which was feared to bring down planes. Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world, with 20 million passengers a year has been on a virtual standstill. Only airline and airport personnel and stranded passengers flying to various destinations in the world, to include Filipinos, were seen around. While airport departure gates at Heathrow started to refuse entry of passengers on Friday afternoon, Ethel Weerakkody and her niece decided to wait for news at the arrivals area. They came all the way from Dubai for a short holiday in the UK. They have been holed up at the airport since Thursday. “We are at the arrival area because it's the only place we can sit down and wait for further notice. We were supposed to fly out last night (Thursday) at Heathrow at 10 in the evening. We were told by the management to wait for further announcements,” said the Dubai-based OFW. Pinoys working at Heathrow were also sent home. “We have no work today because of the volcano, I think, ” said airport worker Caloy De Guzman. Meanwhile, travel agencies in the UK have been working doubly hard. Celestial Travel, a Filipino-owned travel agency in London, has some 30 Pinoy passengers waiting for confirmation of flights to the Philippines. “We are trying to help them to fly as soon as possible. The airlines are quite helpful. They are trying to accommodate whatever the dates the passengers would like to travel,” said Fe Perfect of Celestial Travel. She added that their clients' schedule may have been messed up but they are trying their best to help them not to spend anything from their own pocket. “We will just rebook the flights and get whatever seats we can find for them. They are not going to pay anything,” she explained. The airline lockdown in the UK is the biggest since World War 2. Reportedly, the restrictions of flights will be lifted Saturday afternoon (UK time) but until the UK Civil Aviation Authority announces that the UK-controlled airspace is safe, the lockdown will continue. – ABS
