OVER 1,000 flights have been axed at airports across the UK impacting thousands of Brits as 114mph Storm Eowyn arrives.
No flights at all will operate from Edinburgh Airport between 10am and 5pm on Friday.
See our live blog here for the latest on Storm Eowyn
Flights have also been cancelled from airports in London, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Belfast due to what is described as the “storm of the century”.
Photos show frustrated passengers at Heathrow in departure lounges, with flights delayed and axed.
The storm has sparked rare red weather warnings for Scotland and Northern Ireland, with the storm likely to damage buildings, uproot trees and cause power cuts, the Met Office said.
People in Scotland have been urged to stay indoors after the Met Office issued a red danger to life warning for wind.
And Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill urged people to heed warnings and stay at home.
Eowyn has also sparked travel chaos, with aviation analytics company Cirium said 1,070 flights scheduled to operate to/from airports in the UK or Ireland on Friday have been cancelled.
That is equivalent to 20% of all flights. The worst affected airports in terms of the number of cancellations are:
– Dublin (119 departures, 109 arrivals)
– Edinburgh (81 departures, 77 arrivals)
– Heathrow (50 departures, 58 arrivals)
– Glasgow (43 departures, 42 arrivals)
Calmac Ferries on Scotland’s west coast and Steam Packet Ferries between Heysham and the Isle of Man both announced Friday’s planned sailings had been cancelled.
And a number of train companies including Avanti West Coast, Lumo, CrossCountry and Grand Central have also told customers not to travel on routes across parts of north Wales, Scotland and northern England with no services running.
All trains from Edinburgh Waverley have been cancelled.
In a post on X yesterday, the Network Rail service said: “There’ll be no train services at the station tomorrow, due to #StormÉowyn’s dangerous winds.
“Please check in with your train operator for the latest info.”
Met Office Chief Meteorologist Paul Gundersen said: “We reserve the issuing of Red Warnings for the most severe weather which represents a likely danger to life and severe disruption, and that is the case with Storm Éowyn.
“While it will be widely very windy on Friday, with additional hazards from rain and snow, the strongest winds and most significant impacts are likely in Northern Ireland and central and southwestern parts of Scotland within the Red Warning areas, where winds could gust 80-90mph quite widely for a time, and potentially up to 100mph for exposed coasts in particular.”
Red warnings for wind have been issued by the Met Office in Northern Ireland from 7am until 2pm on Friday, and for western and central areas of Scotland between 10am and 5pm.
Gusts of 80 to 90mph are expected widely inland in the warning areas, with speeds of up to 100mph likely along coasts, the forecaster said.
And in Ireland, tens of thousands of homes have lost power as gusts of 114mph were recorded near the Galway coast in the west, the island’s Met Eireann said on X.
Amber wind warnings are also in place for Northern Ireland, the southern half of Scotland, northern England and north Wales between 6am and 9pm on Friday, and the northern half of Scotland from 1pm on Friday to 6am on Saturday.
Winds reaching 60 to 70mph will be widespread in these warning areas.
There is a yellow wind warning covering most of the UK for the entirety of Friday.
Smaller yellow warnings for snow in Scotland, from 6am to midnight, and rain in south-west England and Wales until 9am.
Further amber and yellow weather warnings for wind and rain have also been issued across Saturday and Sunday.
[boxout headline=”Cancelled flights across UK”]Aviation analytics company Cirium said 1,070 flights scheduled to operate to/from airports in the UK or Ireland on Friday have been cancelled.
That is equivalent to 20% of all flights.
The worst affected airports in terms of the number of cancellations are:
– Dublin (119 departures, 109 arrivals)
– Edinburgh (81 departures, 77 arrivals)
– Heathrow (50 departures, 58 arrivals)
– Glasgow (43 departures, 42 arrivals)
