Heathrow baggage system fault hits PIA passengers

National flag carrier says it is making all out efforts to ensure all luggage is brought back on next flights

ISLAMABAD: A major breakdown of the baggage handling system at Terminal-3 of London’s Heathrow Airport affected flights of several international airliners, including Pakistan International Airline (PIA), on Wednesday, a statement said.

“Thousands of pieces of check-in baggage has been left behind, affecting all flights landing or taking off from there, including those of Emirates, Gulf Air, Cathay Pacific, Virgin and dozens of other airlines,” a press release issued by the PIA read.



“The breakdown also affected PIA and about 700 pieces of baggage of passengers traveling on PK-788 and PK-786 could not be loaded on the aircraft,” the communiqué added.

The national flag carrier apologised for the inconvenience caused to the passengers and said it was “making all out efforts to ensure that all of the above bags are rushed on next direct available flights from Heathrow Airport.”

Meanwhile, British Broadcaster BBC said the baggage system fault at Heathrow Airport's Terminal-3 has been resolved.

It said the airport authorities could not confirm what the problem was, what had caused it or how many people had been affected.



A number of major international carriers, including British Airways, American Airlines and Emirates, operate flights from Terminal-3.