Travel chaos continues across Europe

19/12/10 12:54 CET

world news

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Air travellers across Europe are enduring another day of misery.

The second burst of bad weather this winter means there will be no inbound flights at Heathrow in the UK and only a handful will leave.

30 tonnes of snow are being shovelled from each parking stand.

But the extreme cold means de-icing is the biggest job. There are 200 aircraft to be done.

The airport is hoping to re-open fully on Monday.

Thousands of people had to spend the night there last night.

Airports in France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands have also been affected by long delays.

And, with planes unable to land or take off, the backlog effect is being felt by travellers worldwide.

Things are no better in Frankfurt. More than 300 flights have been cancelled.

The atmosphere inside the terminal is calm.

Police were called yesterday after a row between delayed passengers threatened to turn violent.

The forecasters say this is freak weather with temperatures ten degrees lower than usual across much of Europe.

The bad news is they are predicting more snow this coming week.

More about: Air traffic, Weather

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