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Thunderstorms ground flights amid bad weather travel chaos

Ryanair, EasyJet and British Airways were among airlines forced to cancel flights amid travel disruption triggered by severe thunderstorms and flooding.

The Irish budget carrier said a “small number” of flights had to be cancelled at Stansted yesterday while others faced delays due to the adverse weather conditions.

EasyJet said 48 flights in and out of Gatwick were cancelled because of the thunderstorms.

British Airways faced restrictions imposed by National Air Traffic Services on the number of aircraft allowed to land and take-off each hour at Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports yesteday for safety reasons.

“These restrictions combined with aircraft being re-routed to avoid the areas of severe weather will lead to delays on some flights and a number of short-haul flight cancellations,” BA said.

“We are sorry for the difficulties caused by the poor weather and are doing all we can to minimise the effect it has on our operations.

“We will use larger aircraft on some routes to help re-book greater numbers of affected customers.”

Passengers left waiting in airports in Berlin and Budapest voiced their frustration on social media, the BBC reported.

Ryanair apologised for the inconvenience and said it was contacting all affected customers by email or text message to advise them of their options.

Rail passengers are also suffering delays and cancellations and roads have been closed.

A yellow warning for rain has been issued covering most of the UK today, with flooding and possible disruption to travel predicted.

Heavy showers and thunderstorms expected to develop in the late morning.

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