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HEATHROW AIRPORT HAS cancelled several flights today so they do not disturb Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin procession today.
The west London airport said in a statement that “out of respect” for the mourning period it will be making “appropriate alterations to our operation”.
These include flights being disrupted between 1.50pm and 3.40pm today to “ensure silence over central London as the ceremonial procession moves from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall”.
British Airways has cancelled 16 short-haul flights due to the airspace restriction.
More flights are expected to be axed during the Queen’s funeral on Monday.
Heathrow said: “Passengers will be notified by their airlines directly of any changes to flights.
“We anticipate further changes to the Heathrow operation on Monday 19 September, when Her Majesty’s funeral is due to take place, and will communicate those in more detail over coming days.
“We apologise for the disruption these changes cause, as we work to limit the impact on the upcoming events.”
The Civil Aviation Authority has also imposed a restriction on airspace over central London which bans aircraft – including drones – flying below 2,500ft between September 9-19.
Meanwhile, Transport for London – the organisation responsible for the city’s Underground and buses – is facing the “biggest event and challenge” in its history as more than one million people are expected to travel to the centre of London to pay their respects to the queen, according to its boss.
Andy Byford, the organisation’s commissioner, told PA that planning for the queen’s lying in state and funeral is more complicated than the 2012 Olympics as it is “impossible” to accurately predict crowd sizes.
Transport for London is “used to dealing with big crowds” and will take measures such as temporarily restricting access to the busiest Tube stations and directing passengers to other stations to “spread the load”, he said.
Ffs
It’s a tough life for subjects of a monarch, really makes you appreciate being a citizen in a democracy.
@Rochelle: ummm Britain is a democracy. You’re confusing a Republic with a monarchy.
The monarchy is worth billions to the British economy. No one visits Dublin to see the Aras or the Oireachtas.
No one will visit Britain to see President Boris Johnson
@Rochelle: Britain IS a democracy!
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Is it? When did the British public vote on being ruled by those decided on birthright?
@Rochelle: the king is head of state with few powers which are controlled by the elected parliament. I don’t qualify to vote for Seanaid elections, so how is that democracy? In fact most of Ireland doesn’t get to vote for senators, just elites that attended specific universities
@Shane Hickey: could they not have the monarchy and the billions and not do daft things like cancelling flights because of mourning?
@Shane Hickey: it isn’t worth billions. In 2019 total spend on entrance fees and gifts was £70m – from Statista UK.
The total tourism revenue for 2019 (domestic and international was £100b – from VisitBritain.
A comparative drop in the ocean.
@Mark Jay: the tourists who spend a chunk of that money are here to see the changing of the guard, the trooping of the colours and hope to get a glimpse of a royal at Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. The monarchy is a massive part of tourism
@Shane Hickey: What you’re saying is incidental to a visit, not the reason for it. And the figures back that up. It was £70m in 2019, which was the highest it had ever been up to that point (excluding Royal Weddings).
@Mark Jay: the latest figures i could find were from 2017 which estimated conservatively that Royal tourism brings in over half a billion a year
@Mark Jay: They’re always updating the figures on this but a recent article put the cost of the royals to British citizens at £500 million while the tourist value of those same royals is close to £2.5 billion. So they are a major tourist attraction. These figures are from Brand Finance.
It will be interesting to see what kind of a hit that takes now that the most popular royal is dead.
@Shane Hickey: can you point me in the direction of that?
@Shane Hickey: Do you think people go to London and hope they’ll see a royal waving from a window at Buckingham Palace? Because most I know have gone and snapped a photo of the place, which would still be there. Logically speaking with everything to see and do in London I can’t see numbers dropping significantly taking out the people side of thing. The places and history will still be there. People visit Versailles, been a while since they’ve had a royal family…
@Will: hi Will. Can you post the link please? I can’t find it on Brand Value. Thank you.
@Mark Jay: sorry Brand Finace.
@Rochelle: They aren’t ruled by the monarch, they’re ruled by the elected government on behalf of the monarch. The theory is that God delegated authority to the crown, which is represented by the reigning monarch, and the crown in turn delegated it to the elected government.
In theory the monarch can dissolve parliament and assert direct rule, taking back the power – it has been some time since that theory was tested – I suspect the results of an attempt would be interesting, from here.
@Shane Hickey: Paris is the most visited city in the world. No monarchy.
@Gearoid Mc Amhlaidh: Paris has it’s own selling points. To address others points, i worked in several huge London hotels. 1. Yes they do think they’ll see a royal at Buckingham Palace. 2. Without the changing of the guard and royals in residence, Buckingham Palace is just a big house. The royal family is a huge draw. I have seen Prince William driving a land Rover down the cut in Southwark with no obvious police presence. Did none of you see the crowds for the jubilee?? I went to the riverside in Rotherhithe to watch the flyover expecting to be alone as usual, it was rammed and it’s five miles from the mall
@Rochelle: They are not ruled by the King. He is a figure head. A head of state.
@Mark Jay: found this which is based on the Brands Finance report
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-royal-familys-brand-is-worth-675-billion-2017-11?amp
@Steve O’Hara-Smith: thanks Steve! If my lecturer in constitutional law had said just that, i might have grasped it quicker! (The English constitution is complex and baffling… Then we did EU law and i begged to return to English constitutional law lol)
@Shane Hickey: yeah France suffers for not having a King anymore…..absolute tosh
@Will:
France gets more tourists than the UK.
It also has an elected head of state.
It doesn’t need a royal family to boost tourism, it has a far superior climate, culture and food.
I know where I’d prefer to holiday.
Arresting protesters, turning off beeps at supermarket checkouts, cancelling flights and 24 hour news coverage. Sounds like North Korea!
@Celtic Eagle: https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/21396774.morrisons-says-not-turned-off-checkout-beeps-queen-tribute/
@Celtic Eagle: If N.K. has no checkout beeps I’m on the first plane over!
@sean o’dhubhghaill: “a spokesperson insisting that they have only been turned down”. That’s so much more sane.
@Celtic Eagle: we’re not quite at the North Korea level of mourning. I’m old enough to remember the death of kim Jung Il
Talk about overkill. I get it’s a big event and moment for the UK, but the world hasn’t stopped because of her death…. and trying to stop it isn’t the solution either.
@Wooden Spoon: The background noise would interfere with the sound on the media coverage thus reducing its value.
As a mark of respect, the world has decided to stop spinning on Monday 19th of September between the hours of 2pm – 9pm
Are we not going a tad ott here.
In all fairness she will hardly hear it .
It’s gotten completely out of hand now. I read an article yesterday stating hospital appointments and surgeries have been cancelled.
The faux grief is nauseating.
Omg
I’d be so embarrassed to be British
@JusticeForJoe: Brits dont do embarrassment
Agree. They have gone completely overboard neeeooowwwwwww!! ……… I’ll get my hat!!
@Niall Gannon: do
@Niall Gannon:
It’s the media, stoopid!
Tools of the.royal family, always has been.
Whipping up mass hysteria.
This has been planned for years to extract as much support as possible for them..
You think it’s a coincidence that she died in Scotland, which is due to have a vote on independence in the next few years?
The royal firm leave nothing to chance.
Mad stuff at this stage.
Why is something that is happening in another country, nothing to do with Ireland, bothering you all so much ? Bit like everyone giving out about all the coverage , it’s on British TV, which is aimed at the British audience, its not meant for Ireland, its just our geographical closeness that gives us access to their TV channels, if it bothers you so much, you have a remote control, use it.
@Sean Walsh: well said….
@Sean Walsh:
Then why did our president and taoseach go grovelling before the latest King of Northern Ireland?
And why are our flags at half mast if as you say it’s a different jurisdiction?
This is one of the least crazy things I’ve heard. Food kitchens are closing in some places. Center Parcs are evicting people for that day, even if they’ve already paid and planned their stay. They’re arresting and charging protesters under new anti protest laws, even for just holding up signs that say “Not My King”. Crazy carry-on
@Gearóid MacEachaidh: OK Center Parcs have just released a statement saying that asking guests to leave for 24hrs isn’t fair so they can stay but they will have to stay in their lodges and the gates will be locked. So now they’re imprisoning their guests
Ah air! That’s just plane madness.
No farting allowed within a 5km radius either! A bit OTT now so it is
Thank Jebus we don’t still live in 1 or 2 TV channel land with only 2 radio stations as well!!
Just chatting to guys at work , supermarkets everything is closed Monday.
They could have kept them if they wanted to block out chants towards Andrew.
Is this a joke?
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