FRANKFURT: Freezing rain in central and southern Germany grounded hundreds of flights and disrupted train travel on Wednesday, while heavy snowfall in Norway’s capital led to the temporary closure of its main airport.

Germany’s massive Frankfurt airport cancelled all flights in early afternoon as jets could no longer be de-iced, but later resumed service with a limited capacity, a spokesperson said, adding that the situation remained uncertain.

Oslo airport also reopened but said it faced big delays that had left many passengers stranded.

Around 680 of the 1,047 scheduled Frankfurt arrivals and departures had been cancelled earlier in the day. At Munich airport 254 flights were cancelled and a smaller airport in the southern city of Saarbruecken ceased operations completely.

Hundreds of flights grounded, train services disrupted

“This is extremely rare...there is so much snow that the pilots can’t see the lights on the ground so we’ve halted all incoming and outgoing flights,” said a spokesperson for Norway’s national airport operator Avinor. For passengers, the cancellations meant stress and changes in plans.

“I’ve had nothing but stress since yesterday,” said Klaus Ludwig Fess standing in Frankfurt airport’s departure lounge.

His initial flight and his rebooked one had been cancelled, he said. “Now I’m taking the train to Berlin.”

In Oslo, Bente Jensen, 66, was unable to even reach the airport for a return journey to her native Denmark as train services from the city centre were cancelled.

“It is not going very well there seems to have been a combination of wind, snow and everything,” Jensen told Reuters after discussing her options with airport train staff alongside hundreds of other stranded passengers.

“Things happen. It is understandable,” said the historian, who had been in town for a three-day seminar.

Trains delayed, halted

German rail operator Deutsche Bahn also warned of delays and cancellations because of winter weather, and said it was limiting the top speed for its high-speed ICE trains to 200kph (124mph) as a precautionary measure.

Its long distance services from Stuttgart and Frankfurt to Paris had been cancelled due to weather conditions in France, Deutsche Bahn said.

France’s weather service warned of black ice in 25 regions and floods in three other areas.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2024