- Title: GERMANY: Frankfurt airport closed due to heavy snow
- Date: 22nd December 2010
- Summary: FRANKFURT, GERMANY (DECEMBER 21, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ROAD OUTSIDE FRANKFURT DEPARTURES VARIOUS OF PASSENGERS INSIDE TERMINAL VARIOUS OF BOARD SHOWING FLIGHTS CANCELLED PASSENGERS LOOKING AT DEPARTURES BOARD VARIOUS OF PASSENGERS STANDING IN QUEUES (SOUNDBITE) (German) PASSENGER, MICHAEL FALGOWSKI, SAYING "I have been travelling since Saturday. I arrived at the airport on Sunday and I've been waiting the whole time. My flight has been cancelled again and now I'm going to take the train. I don't want to wait here any longer. It's terrible -- the organisation. I just can't say anything." (SOUNDBITE) (German) PASSENGER, MICHAEL SCHMIDT, SAYING "This morning we got here from Bad Schwalbach in Taunus. There is so much snow. My wife and mother-in-law have to go to Belgrade via Zurich. Now we are standing here and hearing that the flight to Zurich has been cancelled. We're trying to rebook, we'll go home and perhaps we'll come back tomorrow or we'll go from Frankfurt to Belgrade. We don't know yet. We'll have to wait and see." (SOUNDBITE) (English) PASSENGERS, THOMAS MCGUINNEY AND ALISON LABAQUE, SAYING "We've been stuck in Europe for five days. We were supposed to leave Florence on Friday." "We've just been bouncing around from airport to airport. "Hopefully we'll get home today." (SOUNDBITE) (English) PASSENGER, PATRICIA CLEMENS, SAYING "We've been travelling around Deutschland by Zug (train) and there were slight delays but it was beautiful, we didn't mind. But now we want to go home." (SOUNDBITE) (English) PASSENGER, FREDERIC CLEMENS, SAYING "We're looking at the board. Our flight is not due out until 1005 so we don't know for sure but we've had a very good time in Germany. We've been in Leipzig and had delays getting from Leipzig to here yesterday so we're happy to have come yesterday." VARIOUS OF PASSENGER AT CHECK-IN DESK VARIOUS OF BOARD SHOWING CANCELLED FLIGHTS VARIOUS OF PLANES COVERED IN SNOW
- Embargoed: 6th January 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany, Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Weather,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVA60VKLD8QCQOG3UB4H9FMIE8JO
- Story Text: Frankfurt airport, the largest in Germany, was closed on Tuesday (December 21) morning due to continued heavy snowfall.
A spokesperson for Fraport, the company that runs the airport, said that there were no more take-offs or landings from 0500 (0400GMT) due to the huge amount of snow and extremely icy conditions. Authorities, therefore, had to close the airport for security reasons. They expected the closure to remain in place for several hours.
Passengers expressed their frustration at not being able to travel.
"I have been travelling since Saturday. I arrived at the airport on Sunday and I've been waiting the whole time. My flight has been cancelled again and now I'm going to take the train. I don't want to wait here any longer. It's terrible," said passenger Michael Falgowski.
Since last Friday (December 17), thousands of passengers have been stranded at Germany's airports as a result of the severe weather across Europe. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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