The snow and rain storm that is shaking central Europe has caused cancellations at airports and train stations in southern Germany, as well as the closure of airports in the United Kingdom throughout the morning of this Sunday.
Frankfurt, Germany’s busiest airport, has canceled 120 of the 1,090 flights scheduled for this Sunday waiting for the runways to clear and visibility to improve. The de-icing of planes is taking longer due to weather conditions, a spokesman for airport authority Fraport explained.
Train services in the Frankfurt area were also experiencing disruptions due to winter weather, rail operator Deutsche Bahn reported Sunday.
The disruptions were causing significant delays, as well as partial and total cancellations of trains. Long-distance services passing through Frankfurt are the most affected: some InterCity Express (ICE) trains stopped at Frankfurt South Station instead of the main station due to the storm.
According to the railway press office, other regions in Germany were only indirectly affected and advises all travelers to check their connections before starting their journeys.
Stuttgart Airport in the country’s southwest has also reported delays because planes had to be de-iced before takeoff, according to an airport spokeswoman Sunday morning. So far seven flights have been delayed, but the runway had already been cleared and was ready to operate.
Operations at Munich Airport were also temporarily disrupted due to snow and ice, another airport spokesperson said on Sunday morning.
The situation in the United Kingdom is no better. The storm of snow and freezing rain this Sunday forced the airports of Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham to close their runways and suspend flights. “Our runways remain closed and we continue to clear the airfield after continued heavy snow over the last hour,” Manchester Airport wrote this morning on the X social network.
For its part, Liverpool John Lennon Airport wrote on the same platform that, although its walkways are still not operational, the airport remains open and “teams are working hard to clear the runway.”
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