The pre-Christmas cold snap and heavy snowfalls across Europe continued to cause travel chaos on Monday, stranding travellers and also claiming a handful of lives as roads and pavement became treacherous. There was ongoing disruption at Frankfurt airport, Germanys largest international hub which saw cancellations and passenger disturbances at the weekend that had to be broken up by police.
Around 340 flights were cancelled on Monday, a quarter of its scheduled departures, authorities said. German Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer asked the countries federal states to suspend a ban on night-time flights, in order help clear the backlog. Lufthansa, Germany largest airline, said it hoped to return to a normal flight schedule by Wednesday.
Germanys high-speed rail network was functioning, but not at full capacity, after Deutsche Bahn ordered a speed limit of 200 kilometres per hour. Passengers have reported heavy overcrowding as people seek out alternatives to flying or driving. Meanwhile, some German petrol stations reported running out of fuel, after supply lorries were ordered to stay in their depots due to the treacherous winter conditions.
However, forecasters predicted milder winds from the south-west, could bring increased temperatures in the coming days. Amsterdams Schipol airport - another major transcontinental hub - returned to something close to normal Monday, after heavy cancellations over the weekend, with Dutch news agency ANP reporting only 100 stranded passengers spending the night to Monday sleeping in the terminal - compared with 3,000 on Friday night.
In Germany a 67-year old woman in Bavaria suffered serious head injuries when a snowplough skidded on ice, pinning against a wall. The driver of the snowplough was treated for shock. Also in Bavaria two occupants of a car were killed when it crashed head-on into a bus, probably due to the icy conditions.
In Britain airports were at breaking point as growing numbers of pre-Christmas travellers were stranded at terminals and more flights were cancelled due to the severe winter conditions. At London's Heathrow airport, operating company BAA urged passengers to stay away from terminals 1 and 3 because of the threat of overcrowding.
The terminals suffered extreme congestion and were unable to accept more passengers, said BAA. It had earlier warned that travellers should not set out for the airport before checking their flight situation. Only about 20 flights were able to take off or land at Heathrow on Sunday, out of the normal daily programme of 1,300 flights.
In an effort to help ease the congestion, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond Monday announced a partial lifting of night-flight restrictions for Heathrow for the next four days. Tempers flared as hundreds of passengers spent a second night stranded at Heathrow which has been virtually shut to traffic since Saturday.
Singer Lily Allen was among those caught up in the delays at Heathrow, writing on Twitter: "Terminal 3 carnage. Apparently our flight is going today. Lots of tinfoil blankets all over the place. Departures is a ghost town." The picture was better Monday at Gatwick, City, Stansted and Luton airports, where some normality returned to services, according to reports.
Eurostar, the railway link between London, Paris and Brussels, was also affected, with delays of up to 90 minutes in departures from London's St Pancras station, a spokesman said. Eurostar said it would run an emergency timetable this week. A spokesman urged passengers not to travel unless it was absolutely necessary, with refunds or rescheduled tickets available to those who could postpone their journey.
In Vienna, a spokeswoman for the Automobile Association (ARBO) said highways were largely clear, thanks to round the clock ploughing after a couple of chaotic days, but that problems were resulting from heavy truck transiting across Austria and often skidding under time pressures. At Vienna airport 500 staff were being employed to de-ice aircraft and remove snow from the runway and apron, where five inches of snow had fallen overnight.
In northern Europe, Helsinki reported a record 70 centimetres of snow - a depth not seen since 1915. Authorities said they no longer knew what to do with the sheer quantity of cleared snow in the city centre. Buses and trams were operating, but at much reduced speeds and greater irregularity. In Sweden around 100 trains had to be cancelled, largely in the south of the Scandinavian country.
In Germany, once economist reckoned the unseasonably early, and heavy, snowfalls had cost the countries around 3 billion euros. DIHK Chief Economist Volker Treier said A winter this severe can knock 0.5 per cent off quarterly economic growth," although he pointed out it was good for winter clothes retailers, salt manufacturers and hardware stores selling shovels and scrapers.
However, it caused chaos for the logistics industry and could spell trouble for insurers, as burst pipes, property damage and vehicle collisions totted up. In France, Paris' Orly airport was set to remain partially closed throughout the morning as it was snowed under. However, Brussels' Charleroi airport reported resumption of normal operations after being shut down on Sunday.
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