Yet MORE chaos at Heathrow as airlines forced to cancel flights with thousands of passengers affected

HEATHROW Airport was forced to cancel more flights today, affecting thousands of travellers who slammed the 'total chaos' this morning.

The London airport told 30 airlines they had to cancel flights during the morning peak.

This is expected to affect as many as 5,000 passengers who will be told at short notice of the cancellations.

While Heathrow hasn't confirmed which airlines have been affected the most, British Airways said a "handful" of their flights have been.

Virgin Atlantic also said two of their flights had been affected, while Delta, Lufthansa , KLM, American Airlines, Aer Lingus and Air France are among the airlines with cancelled routes.

Fuming Brits complained on social media calling it "carnage" and "total chaos" - one man wrote: "Absolute shambles, complete chaos & only found out at check in with no prior notification."

Another wrote: "Total chaos at Heathrow this morning. BA flights cancelled and zero customer service!

A third said: "Over two hours since landing and still not out of @HeathrowAirport, shambles."

A spokesperson for the airport told the Sun Online Travel: “We are expecting higher passenger numbers in today’s morning peak than the airport currently has capacity to serve, and so to keep everyone safe we have asked airlines to remove 30 flights from the morning peak for tomorrow only.

"We will work with airlines to get affected passengers rebooked onto other flights outside of the peak so that as many as possible can get away tomorrow, and we apologise for the impact this has on travel plans.

"We are working hard to ensure everyone has a smooth journey through Heathrow this summer, and the most important thing is to make sure that all service providers at the airport have enough resources to meet demand.”

Due to the short notice cancellation, Brits will be able to claim compensation if caught up in the chaos under EU 261 regulations.

The cancellations come just days after Heathrow descended into chaos with suitcases abandoned across terminals.

Shocking images showed the disarray passengers attempted to navigate, with thousands of suitcases deserted at both arrivals and departures.

Other airports have had to reduce their schedule too, with Gatwick cancelling 4,000 flights in advance this summer.

'CARNAGE'

Airlines have also been forced to cancel thousands of flights in recent months due to staff shortages.

BA confirmed that 16,000 flights between March and October would be cancelled to prevent short-notice cancellations.

Both easyJet and TUI were also forced to cancel hundreds of flights this month, with easyJet warning they could cut another 10,000 this summer.

Lufthansa, who originally confirmed they would cancel 900 flights this summer, announced another 2,200 would be cut.

And more chaos is expected this summer due to strike action - some 16,000 BA workers are threatening to join 700 Heathrow Airport check-in staff in a planned walk-out.

The workers, all of whom are based at Heathrow and are members of the GMB and Unite unions, could down tools as early as July 8.

Meanwhile staff from budget airline Ryanair across Europe will walk out in a row over pay and working conditions.