So eager to get back: Travellers pour into Heathrow

Airport reopens after power blackout, but significant delays expected in days ahead

- Lynsey Chutel and Jonathan Wolfe

LONDON - Throngs of passengers anxious to get on with their journeys surged into London's Heathrow Airport on March 22, a day after a power blackout closed the airport and forced thousands to delay their trips.

As information boards flickered back to life, an army of extra airport staff, dressed in purple, sprang into action to help people as they walked through the terminal doors.

Mr Ganesh Suresh, a 25-year-old student who was trying to get home to Bangalore, India, was among passengers who had secured a coveted seat on a flight on March 22. After his Air India flight was cancelled, his parents booked new tickets on Virgin Atlantic while he spent the night at a friend's place in Birmingham, England.

"I was so eager to get back," Mr Suresh said. He sheepishly admitted to yelling at his parents in frustration during the height of the shutdown chaos. "I might apologise to them when I get back."

Travellers, diverted or rebooked, arrived early, with trains and other transport routes to the airport reopened. A day earlier, the airport's roads were empty except for police cars.