Hundreds of thousands of people are stranded by “freak weather conditions” that dumped unexpected tons of snow on Europe this weekend, snarling flight schedules at the continent’s busiest airports.
Heathrow planned to cancel all arrivals today, but later said it might allow three planes to land. A dozen long-haul flights are scheduled to take off toight, spokesman Andrew Teacher said. He did not say which ones. More than 200,000 passengers were due to take off from Heathrow today, said Donna O’Brien, a spokeswoman for Heathrow airport operator BAA. Most won’t be able to, she said.
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Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris told travelers to expect two-hour delays and cancellation of a quarter of flights. One in five flights was being canceled at the French capital’s second airport, Paris-Orly, with delays of an hour expected, Aeroports de Paris said on its website.
Germany’s Frankfurt airport said at least 500 of a planned 1 300 flights would be scrapped today.
Workers were trying to remove 30 metric tons of snow from each of the airport’s 200 aircraft parking stands, according to the airport’s website.
Meanwhile, ground travel in France was also snarled by heavy snowfall and cold temperatures. The U.K.’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office said French authorities reported they are preventing all cargo trucks and buses from using roads in northern france and the greater Paris metropolitan area, and that car travel is “unadvisable.” Air and rail services were also affected, the office said. (CNN)
