Tamanna Reza
The London Heathrow International Airport will momentarily remain closed and shut down all activities on Monday, 19 September out of respect for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.
According to data from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), among the flights that were scheduled to fly in and out of Heathrow Airport on 19 September include 100 British Airways flights and 4 Virgin Atlantic flights. British Airways is expected to cancel 50 flights as part of the change. Only 15% of all the flights scheduled for the day will be affected by this decision.
A spokesperson from British Airways said, “As a mark of respect for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the day of her state funeral, we have reduced our schedule and re-timed some flights at Heathrow to ensure the skies are quiet at certain moments on Monday 19 September. Our thoughts remain with the royal family and the nation.”
On September 8th, the Queen passed away at the age of 96 after ruling the kingdom for 70 years. To ensure that no interruption is caused due to the landing and departure of flights from Heathrow Airport, the airport official came to this decision.
According to which, skies will be kept quiet for half an hour during the procession on Monday, this includes 15 minutes before and after the two-minute moment of silence for the funeral cortège. Flights scheduled during that time will be delayed.
Between the time 1:45 p.m. and 2:20 p.m. GMT (London is five hours ahead of Eastern time in the U.S.), there will be no arrivals, then from 3:03 p.m. to 4:45 p.m, there will be no departures.
“To minimize noise during the private family service and interment,” the BBC noted that departures will be changed from 4:45 p.m. to 9 p.m. and the flights will instead be diverted around the airspace over Windsor Castle.
People are requested to use available rail links such as the Elizabeth line or tube, as some of the roads near the airport will also remain closed during the time of mourning.
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