Flights grounded by US blizzards

New York, and other east coast cities, have been hit by snow

Hundreds of passengers have been affected by the cancellation of flights between Britain and the US east coast, after the region was hit by blizzards.

The UK cancellations were among more than 1,000 flights in the Midwest and north-east US that were snowed in.

Flights between Heathrow and Manchester and destinations including New York, Boston and Philadelphia, were affected by the weather on Saturday.

But on Sunday, cross-Atlantic flights appeared to be returning to normal.

A British Airways spokeswoman said 18 flights (nine returns) were cancelled out of Heathrow on Saturday but just one return flight to Philadelphia had been grounded so far today.

"All other flights so far are operating normally," she said.

Saturday's cancelled flights were between Heathrow and Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington.

In Pictures: US blizzard

A Gatwick Airport spokesman said one US Airways flight to Philadelphia had been cancelled on Sunday, but that flights on Saturday were unaffected.

United Airlines said it had cancelled two inbound flights from New York to Heathrow on Saturday and flight UA905 to New York on Sunday had also been cancelled.

A spokesman added that passengers would be accommodated on other flights.

Virgin Atlantic said it had cancelled four outbound flights to New York on Saturday and five inward.

But just one flight to New York and a return flight between Heathrow and Boston were cancelled on Sunday, a spokeswoman said.

American Airlines said five of its 14 flights out on Sunday had been cancelled, three to New York and two to Boston.

Manchester Airport

Flights to and from Manchester Airport have also been affected by bad weather.

BA flight 1502 from JFK Airport, New York, and a US Airlines flight from Philadelphia had to be cancelled.

A Manchester airport spokeswoman said some flights were late, including a Continental Airlines flight from Newark which is due to arrive at 1000 GMT on Monday - 27 hours late.

For travel updates see Ceefax flights index on page 440.