Much of Europe suffered another night of chaos as the Beast from the East and Storm Emma continue to bring freezing conditions
For four nights in a row, travellers have been facing major disruptions on roads, rails and in the air as a Siberian weather system collides with Storm Emma.
Around 50,000 British travellers are believed to be stranded abroad because of hundreds of flight cancellations. The largest number of grounded flights have been at Heathrow, where British Airways have cancelled almost 200 flights so far on Friday
There continues to be very poor weather conditions across parts of the UK and Europe and this will unfortunately affect some of our flights. For more information and for your options if you are flying this weekend, click here: https://t.co/pqBx7NfURP
— British Airways (@British_Airways) March 1, 2018
“We are keeping customers informed and offering short-haul customers due to travel up to and including next Tuesday a range of flexible rebooking options, even if their flight is still due to fly as planned,” the carrier said.
“We are sorry that the weather this week is leading to some delays and disruption to our schedules. We continue to do all we can minimise the effect the poor weather may have on our flights. ”
Lufthansa, Air France and United Airlines have cancelled multiple flights, and some inbound services from Singapore, Johannesburg and Dubai have been grounded.
#Ireland Due to severe weather conditions, the Irish authorities advise you should remain indoors until 3pm on Fri 2 March. Public transport is suspended and Dublin and Cork airports are closed. More info: https://t.co/ntCIBvE5FQ pic.twitter.com/L22e8Y7Gco
— FCO travel advice (@FCOtravel) March 1, 2018
Ireland is braced for the heaviest snowfall in decades that Storm Emma is predicted to bring.
All flights in and out of Dublin airport were suspended on Friday, with service disruptions expected to continue until Saturday at the earliest. The first flight out of Dublin is currently scheduled at 5:15 am on Saturday.
Aer Lingus has cancelled a total of 30 flights between Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Heathrow.
The British Foreign Office warned travellers, saying: “Due to severe weather conditions across the country, the Irish authorities advise that you should remain indoors until 3 pm on Friday 2 March.”
#StormEmma reminder: All flights scheduled to/from Dublin, Cork, Kerry, Knock & Shannon Airports today, Friday 2nd March, have been cancelled. All affected customers have been notified of their options by email / SMS text message pic.twitter.com/b0k3leYPPX
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) March 2, 2018
Staff at Edinburgh airport were working through the night to clear the runway so that it could be “open for those airlines that wish to operate tomorrow”.
EasyJet and Ryanair Jet have announced they would not start operations at the Scottish capital until the afternoon. British Airways, Flybe and Jet2 may begin earlier.
The weather system coming from Siberia has been called different names across European countries. While in the UK it is called the Beast from the East, the Swedes have named it a Snow Cannon and the Dutch call it the Siberian Bear.
The airport in the Swiss city of Geneva was forced to shut down on Thursday morning but was reopened after the runway was cleared using snow ploughs.
Several airports in Europe are dealing with winter weather conditions today. At Schiphol, flights can be delayed or cancelled due to a strong east wind. If you have travel planned for today, please check https://t.co/AB41Lj6v7h or contact your airline. pic.twitter.com/7lI4FGTUlF
— Schiphol (@Schiphol) March 1, 2018
In France, about 2,000 drivers were stranded on a motorway near the city of Montpellier, with some complaining of being stuck for as long as 24 hours.
Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport was also hit by freezing winds, with KLM airlines cancelling or delaying dozens of flights.
Snow has even fallen on the normally balmy beaches of the French Riviera.
