London:
Snow and ice forced the grounding of dozens of flights in parts of Europe on Sunday, disrupting the end of the busy New Year’s travel season.
Here is an overview of some Western European countries affected by the winter weather conditions:
Britain
Airports in the northwestern cities of Manchester and Liverpool, central Birmingham and western Bristol reopened on Sunday after heavy snow forced the closure of runways in large parts of England.
However, Northern Leeds Bradford Airport said the runway would remain closed until further notice.
The snow has also closed some major roads in northern England and the railway between north Leeds and Halifax has been suspended due to the weather.
Germany
Snow and sleet forced the cancellation of dozens of flights at Frankfurt airport, Germany’s largest, on Sunday.
A total of 120 of around 1,990 flights at the airport in the west of the country were cancelled, with an AFP spokesman telling AFP that the runways had to be cleared, while “de-icing the planes is also more complex and demanding” .
Poor visibility was another factor behind the cancellations.
In Munich, 35 flights were canceled late on Saturday evening as a precaution, out of a total of 750 scheduled departures and landings at Germany’s second largest airport, a spokesman said.
The meteorological agency warned of freezing rain on Sunday after overnight snowfall and advised passengers to avoid unnecessary travel.
The Netherlands
At Schiphol Airport, a major European hub, 68 flights were canceled and more than 200 delayed due to snow conditions, according to the airport’s website.
Schiphol Airport also warned passengers on its website to check the status of their flight before traveling.
The cancellations mainly affected European destinations, but long-haul flights also suffered from the cancellation of services to Newark and Detroit in the United States.
Spain
In Spain, travelers faced major delays of up to 3.5 hours.
Some flights arriving at Madrid and Barcelona airports from European destinations were canceled, including trips from Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Liverpool, Manchester, London and Paris, according to the airports’ respective websites.
A spokeswoman for Aena, the company that operates 46 airports in Spain, said “there may be changes to operations” due to adverse weather conditions in other countries, but could not provide figures.
No one in Spain was affected by snow or ice warnings on Sunday, but parts of the north were under a yellow wind warning.
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