- Title: GERMANY: Ice and snow further hamper Christmas travel
- Date: 22nd December 2010
- Summary: FRANKFURT, GERMANY (DECEMBER 21, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PLANES AND SNOW BEING CLEARED FROM TARMAC INTERIOR OF TERMINAL BOARD SHOWING CANCELLATIONS (SOUNDBITE) (German) CHAIRMAN OF FRAPORT, STEFAN SCHULTE, SAYING: "The difficulty is that the snowfall came very early on, at the time when the intercontinental flights were meant to arrive. They had to be sent to other airports, like Munich and Stuttgart. We will firstly bring them back in here. There will be a lot of cancellations this morning and we hope that this afternoon, depending on how the weather develops, that we will have some kind of normal air traffic." CANCELLED FLIGHTS ON BOARD (SOUNDBITE) (German) CHAIRMAN OF FRAPORT, STEFAN SCHULTE, SAYING: "I am sure that we will have to cancel at least 300 flights today. It will probably be the same as in the last few days and could end up being many more. We'll have to wait and see how many passengers we get on their way and how many passengers the airlines manage to rebook. We can't say at the moment what the end of the day will look like. It all depends on a higher force, and how the weather develops." REBOOKINGS DESK VARIOUS OF PASSENGERS STANDING IN QUEUES HALDENSLEBEN, GERMANY (DECEMBER 21, 1020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ICE-BREAKER TRAVELLING THROUGH ICE ON THE MITTELLAND CANAL VARIOUS OF CAPTAIN VARIOUS OF ICE-BREAKER IN ICY WATER VARIOUS OF ICE-BREAKER TRAVELLING THROUGH ICE
- Embargoed: 6th January 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany, Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Weather,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVA9B5NZ9LXD5I1CUK1NROG8KI7
- Story Text: Snow and freezing temperatures continued to ground flights to and from Germany on Tuesday (December 21), with travellers hoping to get away for Christmas likely to suffer delays and cancellations for several more days.
Frankfurt airport was closed to air traffic for several hours on Tuesday morning, reopening at around 0730GMT.
Thousands of passengers have been stranded at the airport during the past week, during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
"I am sure that we will have to cancel at least 300 flights today. It will probably be the same as in the last few days and could end up being many more. We'll have to wait and see how many passengers we get on their way and how many passengers the airlines manage to rebook. We can't say at the moment what the end of the day will look like. It all depends on a higher force, and how the weather develops," the head of Fraport, the company which runs the airport, Stefan Schulte told reporters in Frankfurt airport's terminal.
The harsh winter weather has grounded flights across northern Europe for days.
Eurocontrol, the umbrella group for air-traffic control across 38 countries, said more than 22,000 flights across Europe were cancelled on Monday but that more services would likely operate on Tuesday.
Meanwhile in the central town of Haldensleben, ice-breakers were working hard to clear the Mittelland canal. Huge chunks of ice could be seen on the surface of the canal, one of the country's major transport canals. Authorities said that it was the first time this winter that an icebreaker was used in eastern Germany. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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