Air travel across Europe faced widespread disruption on Sunday, with 129 flights cancelled and 1,889 delayed across 16 airports, according to real-time aviation data recorded at 16:35 GMT. London Heathrow was the worst affected airport, followed by Paris Charles de Gaulle and London Gatwick, with disruption also reported at Barcelona, Manchester, Frankfurt, Amsterdam Schiphol and Gran Canaria.

Heathrow recorded 39 cancellations and 254 delays, the highest figures of any airport in Europe on the day. Paris Charles de Gaulle and Gatwick also saw heavy disruption. British Airways was the hardest-hit airline, with 38 cancellations and 149 delays, ahead of easyJet, SAS, Air France and Lufthansa. Heathrow's departure delay rate stood at 18 percent, while Charles de Gaulle reported a 23 percent departure delay rate.

Live airport data for Heathrow also showed a European air-traffic weather delay advisory in force for much of Sunday, running from early morning until 20:00 GMT. Individual flights were running well behind schedule through the afternoon, with services between London and Copenhagen among those delayed by more than an hour.

The disruption affected routes across Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland. Passengers travelling on Sunday were advised to check the status of their flight with their airline before heading to the airport, as delays continued to build through the afternoon and evening.