Weather disrupts German travel
January 21, 2013
More than 200 flights Monday at Frankfurt International Airport have been cancelled so far due to snow, a spokesman for the airports operator, Fraport, said. The operator said that German airline Lufthansa accounted for 140 of those cancellations.
The spokesman added that further delays were sure to come.
Although the freezing rain which grounded some 450 flights Sunday had stopped, snow continues to fall, meaning planes must be de-iced.
According to the German Weather Service (DWD), some 13 centimeters (5.1 inches) of new snow also fell in Munich. The new snowfall led to the cancelations of 200 flights at the Munich airport, a spokesman said.
Berlin-Tegel Airport spokesman Ralf Kunkel said the capital city airport had to both delay and cancel flights because of the conditions in Frankfurt and Munich. Airports in Leipzig and Halle were also forced to call off flights.
The DWD said that in south-central Germany, 20 centimeters of new snowfall caused delays for motorists, while in northeast Germany, Berlin's A111 highway was closed because of icy conditions.
It is the second consecutive day wintery weather conditions have disrupted transportation in Germany.
Fraport said that crews struggled to de-ice aircraft during Sunday's freezing rain that led to the hundreds of canceled flights.
Other airports - Stuttgart and in Paris and Heathrow - also halted flights Sunday.
The severe weather across southwestern Germany also resulted in 800 road accidents Sunday and dozens of broken-bone injuries among pedestrians who slipped on ice.
dr/rg (dpa, dapd, Reuters, AFP)