Passengers struggling to get away for the holiday season faced further frustration and delays today, as the EU’s top travel official slammed snow disruptions across the region as “unacceptable.”
Heavy snow caused severe disruption to train and plane schedules in a number of major cities days before Christmas, forcing thousands of people to sleep in terminals while they waited for information on their onward journey.
“I am extremely concerned about the level of disruption to travel across Europe caused by severe snow. It is unacceptable and should not happen again,” European Commission Vice President Siim Kallas said in a written statement.
He took issue with airport infrastructure which he said was the “weak link” in the chain, and urged airports to “get serious” about planning for severe weather conditions.
Thousands of passengers endured another frustrating day at London’s Heathrow Airport as airlines struggled to clear the backlog of passengers after two days of cancellations.
//
// -1) ? ‘intl’ : ‘www’;
if(typeof currExpandable != “string”) {
currExpandable = ”;
}
var mediaObj = new Object();
mediaObj.type = ‘gallery’;
mediaObj.contentId = ”;
mediaObj.source = ‘http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/swf/3.0/story/imagegallery.swf’;
mediaObj.galleryUrl = ‘/interactive/2010/12/world/gallery.snow.europe/flashxml/index.xml&configUrl=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/ssi/www/misc/3.0/omni/config.xml&emailHandler=onEmailClicked&pageType=Story&pageURL=’+window.location.pathname+’§ion=’;
// ]]>
//
On Monday, only one of the airport’s two runways was operational, following an almost complete shutdown Sunday due to heavy snow. (CNN)