Heathrow Airport in London has cancelled 30 percent of its flights for Sundays in the face of a forecast for heavy snow, the airport announced on Saturday afternoon.

BAA, which owns Heathrow as well as five other airports in Britain, said that the move to cancel the flights was prompted by forecasts of snow and severe weather for the London area.

Cold weather has settled on Europe in the past few days, and the authorities at Heathrow said they expected up to 15 cm of snow to fall from early Saturday evening onwards. They expected freezing fog on Sunday evening, which would further restrict operations at the airport.

The airport authorities said the details of which flights would be cancelled had been agreed with airlines, and that details would be released in the early evening on Saturday.

The authorities warned that there could be further flight cancellations.

Heathrow Chief Operating Officer Normand Boivin said, "This decision ensures that the greatest number of passengers can fly with the minimum amount of disruption."

"It also means that those passengers whose flights are cancelled will know in advance, and can make alternative arrangements or rebook in relative comfort," he said.

The percentage of passengers who would be able to fly was expected to be higher than 70 percent, said airport authorities, as airlines will transfer people between flights.

The airport, in the western suburbs of the city, is the largest in Britain and one of the busiest airports in the world, and handles more international passengers than any other airport.

Flight cancellations and delays at Heathrow can have a knock-on effect at other airports across the globe.

Heathrow Airport and its operators were severely criticized in 2010 during a period of very cold weather and snow for its poor handling of the situation.

Runways and taxi-ing areas were covered by snow and ice, and many planes were trapped at the 200 plane stands at Heathrow, unable to take off. This led to cancellation of outgoing flights, and the airport seized up and was unable to accept many incoming flights.