LONDON – Thousands of angry travellers forced to sleep in airports and train stations across Europe faced more misery on Tuesday as fresh snowfalls paralysed transport systems just days before Christmas.
London Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, was only operating about a third of its normal schedule during a fourth day of disruption, while Frankfurt halted all flights after a new blanketing of snow.
For a third day, queues stretched for hours outside the London terminal for the Eurostar train link between France and Britain, as authorities faced growing questions about their failure to cope with the weather.
Colin Matthews, chief executive of British airport operator BAA, which is facing heavy criticism for the backlog of flights caused by the ice and snow, insisted that Heathrow had got off to a “good start” this morning.
“The key message for our passengers is to make sure you check on the Heathrow website to see if your flight is going to depart, if it is, come to the airport and we will do our absolute best to give you a great experience,” he told ITV news.
Terminals at Heathrow have been transformed into a makeshift camp with passengers crashed out on temporary mattresses, some of them since the last major snowfall at the airport on Saturday.
