British Airways grounds flights, hopes fog chaos to end

London -- British Airways has cancelled several flights from London's Heathrow airport Saturday, but hoped to operate all domestic flights to and from the airport later in the day.

The airline said it hoped to operate 95 percent of its Heathrow services, including 87 percent of short-haul flights with a full service Sunday, according to the BBC.

Three days of dense fog have caused hundreds of flight cancellations and severe delays.

The disruption followed cancellation of more than 500 connections in previous days. More than 40,000 travellers were affected.

Smaller British carrier bmi had also cancelled a number of flights as the fog meant air traffic controllers had to limit the number of hourly take-offs and landings.

BA's services to Paris and Brussels would begin again on Christmas Eve.

Extra trains and coaches were laid on to transport travellers to destinations in Britain.

Meanwhile forecasters at the BBC's weather centre said they were now "reasonably confident" that visibility would improve at Heathrow Saturday, as the fog moved north.

Surveys have shown that a record 2.5 million Britons were planning to travel abroad for Christmas this year.