Air force to help travelers in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called in the Brazilian air force Friday to help transport airline passengers on an emergency basis as long delays and overbooked planes snarled commercial flights over the busy holiday weekend.

Brazil halted ticket sales by the nation's biggest airline, Tam Linhas Aereas, until the situation was brought under control, aviation officials said Friday.

The Air Force Command, whose flights began after the president's announcement, said it was fulfilling a request by Lula to "relieve the difficulties currently faced by users of commercial civil aviation."

The air force made eight jets — two Boeing 707s, two Boeing 737s and four Embraer EMB-145s — available for flights between Brasília, the nation's capital, and São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the country's two largest cities.

The Air Force's expenses will be paid for by the airlines, which have been dogged by mechanical problems, bad weather and a protest by air traffic controllers, resulting in problems for passengers.

Bad weather and mechanical problems with six Tam airplanes caused flight delays Thursday of up to 12 hours.

The National Agency of Civil Aviation, or ANAC, said it halted Tam ticket sales Friday because "predicted improvements in the treatment of passengers did not occur, with the persistence of delays."

"All airlines have delays, but Tam is the most affected," said Nadia Tavares, a spokeswoman for Brazil's airport authority, Infraero.

More than 1,000 stranded travelers were waiting for delayed flights Friday in Brasilia, including 600 Tam passengers, Infraero said. Some 30 passengers invaded the tarmac, chanting "we want a plane," but were peacefully removed by police.

Of the 40 flights scheduled to take off from Brasília on Friday morning, 18 were delayed, ANAC said. At airports in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, numerous flights were delayed and long lines of passengers stretched across the lobby.

Forecasters say

London fog is lifting

LONDON — Relief was in sight for thousands of stranded travelers at Heathrow Airport on Friday after forecasters said the thick, freezing fog that forced flight cancellations and delays for four days should begin to lift.

Dry air from the south was expected to help remove the blanket of fog around Europe's busiest airport by this morning, forecasters said. "While it may remain gray and misty, the key factor — visibility — should improve considerably," Meteorological Office spokesman Keith Fenwick said.

Heathrow — built on flat, grassy land and surrounded by reservoirs and canals — is particularly vulnerable to fog.

British Airways canceled 170 incoming and outgoing flights Friday, 84 of them domestic and the rest short-haul to Europe. While the airline's long-haul services were still operational, some departing passengers were expected to face delays of several hours.

The airline said it would be able to fly 95 percent of customers today, adding that it was already operating 80 percent of short-haul flights.

— The Associated Press