Frankfurt Airport Cancels Flights amid Icy Winter Weather
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Frankfurt Airport’s operator cancelled more than half of flights scheduled for Jan 17 as central and southern Germany braced themselves for heavy snowfall and black ice.
Fraport pre-emptively cancelled 574 of 1,074 planned take-offs and landings, a spokeswoman said, Bloomberg reported.
The country’s national weather service warned of “extreme freezing rain danger” in the south-west and the authorities advised drivers not to venture out.
Icy temperatures have been dominating northern Europe for the past few days.
The cold is set to intensify in Germany and parts of France until Jan 20.
Meanwhile, Britain experienced its coldest January night since 2019 leading up to Jan 17, the BBC reported citing the Met Office.
Sweden’s national forecaster issued orange and yellow weather warnings for parts of the west and the east coast as an “intense low pressure system” sweeps in from the west, bringing heavy snow.
In Germany, rail operator Deutsche Bahn said snow and ice could cause delays and train cancellations and limited the maximum speed of its high-speed ICE trains to 200kmh.
The fresh transport woes come just a week after a three-day nationwide rail strike.
That action had coincided with a wave of protests by farmers, who blocked roads and highways across the country to vent their anger over the government cutting subsidies.
Deutsche Lufthansa said it has “significantly reduced” overall capacity in the next two days, affecting both short and long-haul flights.
The airline urged passengers to check their schedules and to not travel to the airport should they be affected by cancellations. The carrier said it is aiming to stabilize operations once the weather improves.
The Arctic weather sweeping across Northern Europe is expected to give way to unseasonably warm weather next week.
