An Air New Zealand plane, grounded after heavy snow stranded hundreds of New Zealand travellers in London, has left Heathrow Airport.
The airport was closed on Sunday and flights were cancelled as London was hit by some of the heaviest snow in decades.
Heathrow yesterday announced a limited schedule of arrivals and departures, but stressed that travellers must check if their flight was operating before coming to the airport.
An Air NZ flight to Auckland via Los Angeles, which had been delayed since Sunday, departed Heathrow today at 12.26am.
The other delayed Air NZ flight was due to depart several hours later at 2.30pm local time.
One of those trapped in London, Sydney-based NZPA bureau chief Chris Barclay, had planned to fly out of Heathrow on Qantas, but his flight was cancelled and he now hoped to leave when the airport reopened.
It would be ``pretty disappointing'' if he couldn't spend Christmas in Christchurch with his family.
``The old man is getting old, getting on ... and it's my mother's birthday a couple of days after (Christmas day) as well,'' he said.
Barclay said he was lucky enough to avoid staying the night at the airport as had stayed with a friend in London.
Not-so-lucky passengers have been sleeping in makeshift dormitories at the Paris airport and at Amsterdam's Schiphol, while staff at Heathrow and Gatwick airports in London handed out foam mats and foil blankets to the stranded.
Some fashioned improvised beds from clothes, chairs and stacked suitcases.
Britain's national weather forecaster, the Met Office, said the snow falls were the heaviest in December for decades and a low temperature record was a possibility.
Further cancellations and delays are likely over the coming days as more snow, sleet and fog is forecast.
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