Airline travellers sleep at Zaventem international airport near Brussels. – Reuters

BERLIN: Frankfurt airport, Germany's busiest, cancelled some 490 flights Sunday due to heavy snowfall which has created chaos throughout the European air traffic network, a spokeswoman said.

“Fresh snow is expected to fall around midday and could continue until midnight,” she added, predicting further flights from the around 1,300 scheduled to be axed during the course of the day.

London's Heathrow Airport was not accepting any arrivals Sunday and was allowing only a handful of departures after snow and ice forced the closure of runways, but was preparing for a full reopening Monday, a statement on its website said.

A Pakistan Airlines Flight was stranded in Paris after taking off from Islamabad for Heathrow Airport. Similarly, another flight taking off from Lahore this morning for London was stuck in Germany.

Hundreds of stranded passengers had to spend the night on beds set up in the airport terminals, some for a second night in a row.

Unusually heavy snowfall had already seen hundreds of flights scrapped Friday and Saturday, including several due to severe winter weather at other European airports, as the holiday travel season got underway.

Flag carrier Lufthansa advised passengers to use the German rail service, which was also hit by delays and cancellations.

Opinion

Editorial

Tax amendments
Updated 20 Dec, 2024

Tax amendments

Bureaucracy gimmicks have not produced results, will not do so in the future.
Cricket breakthrough
20 Dec, 2024

Cricket breakthrough

IT had been made clear to Pakistan that a Champions Trophy without India was not even a distant possibility, even if...
Troubled waters
20 Dec, 2024

Troubled waters

LURCHING from one crisis to the next, the Pakistani state has been consistent in failing its vulnerable citizens....
Madressah oversight
Updated 19 Dec, 2024

Madressah oversight

Bill should be reconsidered and Directorate General of Religious Education, formed to oversee seminaries, should not be rolled back.
Kurram’s misery
Updated 19 Dec, 2024

Kurram’s misery

The state must recognise that allowing such hardship to continue undermines its basic duty to protect citizens’ well-being.
Hiking gas rates
19 Dec, 2024

Hiking gas rates

IMPLEMENTATION of a new Ogra recommendation to increase the gas prices by an average 8.7pc or Rs142.45 per mmBtu in...