Severe Weather Closes Airports, Spreads Chaos in Europe

Severe weather closed airports in Geneva, London and Edinburgh, spreading chaos through Europe's transportation system.

London Gatwick airport, the second-busiest in the U.K, will be closed until at least tomorrow morning while snow is cleared away, Bloomberg News reported. Geneva airport is shut until at least 2 p.m. local time, while flights were cancelled at Frankfurt thanks to strong tailwind.

"We've had an incredible quantity of snow and it's still falling," said Geneva airport spokesman Bertrand Staempfli.

Sponsored Links

The early winter snow has frozen on roads across Britain, while roads are also frozen in Germany.

Eurostar Group, which runs high-speed trains between London, Paris and Brussels, canceled six trains today due to weather. The trains that were running faced delays because of reduced speeds.

In France, Lyon Saint-Exupery airport was closed to arrivals, with incoming flights diverted to Marseille.

In Scotland, Edinburgh airport suspended services. Local media reported it would remain closed until 6am local time tomorrow.

"The severe cold snap has shown once again the importance of having transport services that are staffed up and equipped to deal with this kind of adverse weather," Bob Crow, the general secretary of the U.K.'s Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers' Union, said in a statement.