Snow causes more delays across Europe
2013-01-21 18:05
London - Hundreds of flights were cancelled in Britain,
France and Germany on Monday as snow and ice blanketed Western Europe.
London's Heathrow airport dropped about 130 flights, 10%
of the daily total, compared to 20% on Sunday.
Flights have been disrupted since Friday at Heathrow,
Europe's busiest airport, which has seen long lines and stranded passengers
camping out on the floors of its terminals.
Heathrow says it has spent millions improving its winter
resilience since the airport was virtually shut down by snow for several days
in December 2010.
But it says low visibility means it must leave bigger
gaps between planes, triggering delays and cancellations.
Forty percent of flights were cancelled at Charles de
Gaulle and Orly airports in Paris.
Frankfurt airport, Germany's largest, told the dpa news
agency on Monday that 180 flights had been cancelled because of icy conditions
caused by freezing rain overnight.
In Munich, which saw 13cm of snow overnight, another 200
flights were cancelled, and long delays were expected at both airports.
In northern Germany, slick roads outside Berlin caused a
stretch of a major highway to be closed during the Monday morning commute, and
the high-speed train that runs through Brussels from Paris to Germany was experiencing
long delays.
British domestic trains and Eurostar services from France
and Belgium to London also were disrupted, and hundreds of schools across
Britain were closed.
- AP
