The storm of snow and freezing rain that affects the United Kingdom this Sunday forced some airports in the country to close their runways and suspend their flights for several hours, in addition to causing disruptions in rail and road transport.
Leeds-Bradford Airport (northern England) reported this morning that its runways remained closed while staff attempted to clear snow and “minimize the impact on flight schedules” in order to reopen at noon, although some flights were rescheduled. for the afternoon.
Manchester airport and Liverpool John Lennon airport also kept their runways closed for several hours, until around 10:00 GMT, when they resumed their activity, although they warned in X that some departures and arrivals may experience “delays” while the Crews work to de-ice the planes and clear the aviation area.
After midnight on Saturday, Birmingham airport also suspended its operations “for security and snow clearance reasons” for several hours and, as reported in X, resumed normal activity at 04:00 GMT in the morning. “as a result of the resilience of the teams that worked overnight.”
For its part, Bristol airport was the first to be forced to suspend its flights and divert them to other cities such as London, Cardiff (Wales) or Belfast (Northern Ireland) due to the storm of snow and freezing rain at the end of Saturday afternoon, but reopened several hours later.
Heavy snow and ice also affected rail and road transport, leaving cars trapped and causing multiple vehicle collisions on several major highways in the country.
At least two yellow weather alerts remain in force for snow and freezing rain in much of northern and central England, as well as Wales and Scotland, where temperatures of up to -8.6ºC and snowfall that could reach 40 centimeters are expected. some areas, the Met Office reported. The cold storm is expected to continue in the UK until early next week.
Frozen runways and planes in southern and western Germany
The snow and frost that hit part of Germany this Sunday have caused flight delays and cancellations in some airports in the country such as those in Munich (southeast), Frankfurt (west) and Stuttgart (southwest).
The German Weather Service (DWD) warned of an “extremely serious weather situation” expected after overnight snowfall and freezing rain during the day. At several airports in Germany there are restrictions due to snow and slippery runways.
According to the Munich Airport website, due to winter weather conditions, restrictions on air operations and flight cancellations are expected, especially in the morning.
Also, Frankfurt, one of the most important in the country, indicated in a notice that delays and cancellations will occur mainly in the morning.
For its part, delays also occur at Stuttgart airport because planes have to be de-iced.
Flight delays and cancellations at Dutch Schiphol airport
The snow and frost that affect different parts of the Netherlands (center, east and northeast) this Sunday have led Schipol airport, the country’s main airport, to cancel a dozen flights while others will suffer delays, airport authorities reported. on your website.
The use of the runways will continue to be limited for the moment and it is expected that by early afternoon they will all be able to be used again, although it is not ruled out that this Sunday will continue to be “a complicated day,” an airport spokesperson said. ANP news agency.
In Belgium, at the moment, Brussels National Airport has not reported any cancellations, although it has experienced small delays due to runway deicing work.
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