Ryanair and EasyJet Expand UK Flights Amid Heathrow Shutdown
DUBLIN (Reuters) -Ryanair and easyJet, which do not operate at London's Heathrow Airport, are adding extra capacity in and out of other British airports to offer alternatives for passengers affected by Heathrow's sudden closure.
Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, was shut on Friday after a huge fire at a nearby electrical substation knocked out its power, disrupting flight schedules around the world.
Ryanair, Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers, said it would operate four extra flights to and from Dublin and London Stansted later on Friday and four more early on Saturday.
Fellow Irish airline Aer Lingus, which is owned by International Airlines Group, cancelled all flights to and from Heathrow on Friday. Ryanair often adds additional flights when rivals are forced to cancel theirs.
Britain's easyJet will fly larger aircraft on key routes on Friday and over the weekend to provide additional seats, the company said.
A number of routes between Britain and Milan, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Paris, Munich and Madrid will have 186-seat Airbus A320 aircraft operating instead of the smaller 156-capacity A319 planes.
EasyJet's main London airports are at Gatwick and Luton.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin in Dublin and Sarah Young in London. Editing by Kate Mayberry and Mark Potter)
