Heathrow crash chaos continues

(CNN) -- Air travelers are experiencing delays as London's Heathrow Airport continues to reel from a crash landing.

As of 0900 GMT Friday the number of flight cancellations at Heathrow is 53, mainly affecting short haul services.

"BAA is doing everything possible to minimize disruption to our passengers and additional staff are on hand at the terminals to assist passengers," a statement from the company read.

Passengers expecting to fly out of Heathrow were warned to contact their airline before traveling to the airport, just west of London.

"At this stage, we are working hard to restore near normal operations. However, it is extremely important that passengers due to fly from Heathrow today contact their airline regarding the status of their flight."

More than 200 flights were canceled immediately following the incident on Thursday-- nearly a fifth of the day's flights, airport operator BAA said.

On Thursday, air traffic controllers diverted some arriving flights to other airports on a flight by flight basis -- and the ripple effect was felt at airports across the UK.

The chaos was caused by a Boeing 777 British Airways flight from Beijing making a crash landing at 12:42 p.m. (7:42 a.m. ET).

For a short while, the southern runway was closed leaving only the northern runway open. Other London-area airports handled extra flights while Heathrow capacity was reduced.

Gatwick, Stansted and Luton all told the UK Press Association they had accepted incoming flights, and used coaches to ferry the passengers to their ultimate destination.

In Scotland, travelers were also warned to check before home if they were flying south.

Donald Morrison, spokesman for BAA Scotland which operates a number of airports in the country, said: "Obviously because Heathrow is such a busy airport there's going to be a knock-on effect on flights and this will affect Scottish passengers.

"There will obviously be a number of passengers who will delayed as the airport plays catch-up.

The National Air Traffic Services (NATS), which oversees the UK's air space also cut the number of planes touching down at Heathrow.

NATS said aircraft on the in-bound flow was cut from 42 to 24 because of the closure of one lane on the southbound runway. Outgoing flights were less affected as they were able to queue for a take-off slot, but they were still delayed. E-mail to a friend