Updated on
Summary
Europe's busiest airports are cancelling hundreds of flights Sunday in the face of freak weather conditions after several inches of snow were dumped on the continent over the weekend. London's Heathrow Airport says it will not accept arriving flights and will manage only a handful of departures on Sunday, and Frankfurt airport in Germany has already canceled at least 500 out of the 1,300 flights scheduled for Sunday. More snow is expected in Germany during the day, which will put further strain on flight schedules. Heathrow is Europe's busiest airport -- and one of the busiest in the world -- while Frankfurt sees the third highest traffic on the continent. Forecasters say the United Kingdom will remain in the grip of bitter winter weather at least through Monday. Temperatures across much of Europe are up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit below average, according to CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera. Heathrow employees are working to try to make the airport fully operational on Monday. On Saturday, frigid temperatures and extreme conditions pummeled Europe. From Northern Ireland to Bulgaria, blizzard conditions left airports with heavy delays or shut them entirely. Snow, ice and fog have caused travel chaos ahead of a busy holiday travel week.The next wave of snowy weather is expected to bring up to 20 centimeters (8 inches) to some parts of the UK, with London expected to receive 5 to 10 centimeters (2 to 4 inches) of snow.The weather system will move across France and Germany on Sunday. Below-normal temperatures are expected to continue in northern Europe into the beginning of next week. London's Gatwick airport closed all runways Saturday afternoon because of heavy snow and ice but reopened at 3 p.m. (10 a.m. ET) after clearing about 10 centimeters (4 inches) of snow from the tarmac. Despite the reopening, the airport warned of inevitable delays and cancellations throughout the day. British Airways canceled all Saturday domestic and European flights at Gatwick, London's second biggest airport. On Saturday night, the airport announced it would be closed indefinitely. All easyJet and British Airways flights -- with the exception of a flight to Egypt -- were canceled out of Gatwick as well.Police closed several access roads surrounding the airports due to dangerous driving conditions.The delays and cancellations extended across Europe -- to Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Geneva, Switzerland; Munich, Germany; Paris, France; and Copenhagen, Denmark.
